Montreal Canadiens Top Prospects Countdown: #15 Luke Tuch

Montreal Canadiens general manager has compiled a long list of prospects. We are counting down the top 30.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has been building through the draft for the past three years. It has resulted in the Habs having one of the deepest group of prospects in the league.

So, we have been counting down the Canadiens Top 30 prospects.

This started on November 1 with the 30th spot going to Jack Gorniak. The 29th spot went to Jacob LeGuerrier, the 28th place was taken by Otto Leskinen, 27th went to Rafael Harvey-Pinard, 26th was Jack Smith, 25th was Jacob Olofsson, 24th was Lukas Vejdemo, the 23rd spot went to Alexander Gordin, Blake Biondi came in at 22nd, Rhett Pitlick was 21st, Joni Ikonen began the top 20, Brett Stapley was number 19, Joel Teasdale was 18th, Gianni Fairbrother was 17th and Cam Hillis was 16th on our list.

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This brings us into the top half of the list of Habs best prospects. Coming in at number 15 on our consensus ranking is Luke Tuch. The American forward is a bruising player and none of us really disagreed with him being ranked right in the middle. I had him 13th on my list and that was the most generous ranking he received from us. Scott Cowan placed Tuch 15th, Teddy Elliott had him 18th and Sebastian High put Tuch 19th on his list of Habs best prospects.

When we compiled the rankings, the second round pick from the 2020 NHL Draft was 15th. Tuch is the younger brother of Alex who plays for the Vegas Golden Knights. The younger Tuch may not tuck as many pucks into the net as Alex, but he might be even tougher to play against.

Luke scored 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 47 games with the United States development Program last season. He also played 19 games in the USHL where he scored eight goals and 14 points. Those aren’t exactly eye-popping numbers like Cole Caufield put up with the same program a year earlier, but Caufield can’t do many of the things Tuch does on the ice.

While Caufield can score goals with ease and stickhandle in a phone booth like Alex Kovalev, he can’t pretend to be 6’2″ and 205 pounds like Tuch is at the age of 18. Tuch is a big power forward and plays like a bull in a china shop in today’s game. There was a time not long ago that a 6’2″ winger didn’t really stand out since they were on every team. But with the game transitioning to more of a focus on speed and skill, a power forward with decent skating is becoming even more valuable.

The only question for Tuch is whether he will be able to keep up at the next level. His skating needs a bit of polishing, but he likes to use his size to his advantage and drive to the net in the offensive zone. He is a smart enough two-way player that he can stay in the right position defensively on the ice, despite not being the fastest player out there.

Tuch was drafted 47th overall by the Canadiens, though many draft rankings had him going later. If he can find an extra gear with his skating, he will be a steal, but if he can’t improve that important area of his game, he will prove to be a bit of a reach at 47th overall.

Tuch is headed to Boston University where he should play his first games as a freshman in early December. This program regularly churns out NHL talent, and is a great place for Tuch to develop his game.

Tuch appears to have limited offensive upside. However, even if he doesn’t score a lot at the NHL level, he has an intriguing package of size, smarts and effort level that makes him difficult to play against. Maybe the Habs hit a home run and he turns into the 2011 version of Milan Lucic. Maybe not, but even if he doesn’t he could very well become a Pat Maroon who just wears down opponents in the postseason with his size and ability to cycle the puck down low.

That size and ability to outwork the other team makes Tuch a solid prospect, but the possibility of a little more offence as he learns how to use his size to his advantage to get to the front of the net and position himself for screens, tips and rebounds makes Tuch a top 15 prospect in the Habs system.