Montreal Canadiens Top Prospects Countdown: #30: Jack Gorniak
Montreal Canadiens prospect winger Jack Gorniak ranks 30th on out prospects countdown.
Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has assembled a long list of solid prospects for the Habs cupboards. He has loaded up on picks for three straight drafts and has 14 more for next year’s event.
This has led to the team having one of the deepest and best groups of prospects in the league.
So, the team at A Winning Habit wanted to do a lengthy list of the team’s top prospects. First we thought it would be a top ten, but then realized some great players were left off so we expanded it to 20. We still had the same problem, so we decided on a top 30 prospects countdown.
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That countdown starts with left winger Jack Gorniak. He was selected by the Habs in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Draft. Gorniak played high school hockey the previous season, so he put up ridiculous numbers, but was playing a lower level of hockey than most of the top hockey prospects in the world.
The 5’11” and 187 pound left winger had 28 goal and 56 points in 24 games for West Salem High School. He also played 21 games for Wisconsin in the UMHSEHL, which is basically a league of High School All-Star teams. He was one of the top scorers in that league with 32 points in 21 games.
So, in much the same way the Habs selected Jack Smith and Blake Biondi this year, they took Gorniak with a high school player with eye-popping numbers in the middle of the draft and an even better performance at the NHL scouting combine.
Gorniak then headed to the University of Wisconsin. He scored four goals and 15 points in 37 games as a freshman. The Badgers didn’t have a lot of superstars but they had a pretty deep roster. They added a handful of impressive forwards following Gorniak’s first year, including Cole Caufield, Dylan Holloway and Alex Turcotte. Without many key departures, this pushed Gorniak down the lineup even more.
The now 21 year old had just two goals and seven points in 28 games this past season. After scoring just under half a point per game the previous year, he obviously trended in the wrong direction as a sophomore.
The Badgers are scheduled to return to action in just under two weeks. Gorniak will be back for a third season and with a few left wingers graduating or leaving the program to turn pro, Gorniak will be looking to bounce back and move up the lineup this season.
He is a gritty, smart defensive player so he will add value to the Badgers lineup, even without much offence. But if Gorniak wants to impress the Canadiens and convince them they need to sign him before he can become a free agent in July of 2022, he is going to need to show a little more offence to his game this coming season.
Next. Wisconsin Badgers season to begin November 13. dark
Gorniak isn’t likely to get top line ice time with the Wisconsin Badgers like fellow Habs prospect Cole Caufield will. But if he can continue to play a strong defensive game and keep winning battles along the boards like he is so good at, he will catch the eye of the Canadiens brass and could be signing a pro contract at the end of the season.