Montreal Canadiens winger Charles Hudon is playing in Switzerland and took a few shots at the Habs.
The Montreal Canadiens took a worthwhile gamble on a two-way winger from Quebec in the 2012 NHL Draft.
Charles Hudon has been playing for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and scored 25 goals and 66 points in 59 games during his draft season. He was a bit undersized, but appeared to be a art, skilled, two-way winger at the QMJHL level.
He has since proven to be a skilled, offensive winger at many other levels, just not the NHL. Most recently, Hudon got off to a good start in Switzerland this week, and he took a few shots at the Canadiens organization in an interview yesterday.
In an interview with J.F Chaumont of Journal de Montreal, Hudon sounded off on the Habs. He said he was given more ice time in two periods during his first game in Switzerland than he got in two postseason games with the Habs this summer. That is probably true, but it doesn’t mean he deserved anything else with the Habs.
He scored an empty net goal and had an assist in his first game in Switzerland. He added two more assists in his second contest. This apparently gave him tremendous confidence to blame his lack of scoring punch at the NHL level on the Habs.
Hudon did score 27 goals in 46 AHL games this season. Of course, he only added eight assists. Being able to fire a one-timer and beat minor league goaltenders on the power play isn’t all it takes to be an NHL player.
The 26 year old played 15 regular season games with the Canadiens this season and scored one goal and one assist. Last season, he played 32 games and had a measly five points. He has been good at the AHL level all along, but hasn’t been able to score in the NHL.
Hudon is currently a restricted free agent. The Canadiens own his rights for one more NHL season. He passed through waivers last September and was not claimed by anyone else. Scoring three assists and an empty net goal in a league that Linus Omark leads in scoring doesn’t make Hudon a fantastic hockey player all of a sudden.
The Canadiens prospect should just keep quiet and hope another team will pick him up on waivers next season. Otherwise, it will be another year of setting up on the power play for the Laval Rocket and hammering one-timers past AHL goaltenders before he can hit free agency and sign elsewhere.