Canadiens Top Prospects Countdown: #6 Ryan Poehling

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 focused on the draft for the past three years to build up his prospect pool. He loaded up on picks for the past three years and has another boatload of selections to make next year.

This has led to the Canadiens having a great group of prospects. With the offseason well underway and next season still more of a question mark than anything else, we are digging deep into the future of the franchise.

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

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This list so far looks like this: 30th Jack Gorniak, 29th Jacob LeGuerrier, 28th Otto Leskinen, 27th Rafael Harvey-Pinard, 26th Jack Smith, 25th Jacob Olofsson, 24th Lukas Vejdemo, 23rd Alexander Gordin, 22nd Blake Biondi, 21st Rhett Pitlick, 20th Joni Ikonen, 19th Brett Stapley, 18th Joel Teasdale, 17th Gianni Fairbrother, 16th Cam Hillis, 15th Luke Tuch, 14th Josh Brook, 13th Jan Mysak, 12th Sean Farrell, 11th Cale Fleury, 10th Noah Juulsen, 9th Jayden Struble, 8th Jesse Ylonen and 7th Jordan Harris.

That brings us yet another step closer to the top prospect in the Habs system and just one outside of the team’s top five prospects. Today, we take a look at the player we ranked as the 6th best prospect in the Canadiens pipeline and that is Ryan Poehling.

The Lakeville, Minnesota native was picked by the Canadiens in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft, with the 25th overall pick. Though he actually fell a bit in the draft based on pre-draft rankings, Habs fans may have been a bit taken aback by his lack of offensive numbers in his draft season.

The American centre scored seven goals and 13 points in 35 games for the St. Cloud State Huskies. Now, this was before Habs fans saw Cole Caufield score at a point per game pace as a freshman, but the bar for first round picks was still set pretty high in 2017. The most impressive thing about Poehling’s freshman season is, he shouldn’t have even been in college yet.

Poehling didn’t turn 18 until his first college season was half over. He accelerated his courses in high school so that he could attend college a year earlier than he normally would have and scored 13 points in 35 NCAA games when he should have been playing in a Minnesota prep school or the USHL.

The 6’2″ and 204 pound centre really broke out in his second and then third season with St. Cloud. He would score 14 goals and 31 points in 36 games during his sophomore season and followed that up with another 31 points in 36 games as a Junior.

More impressive than his offensive game was Poehling’s defensive acumen. He was routinely used in shutdown situations, taking key face-offs and killing penalties. Poehling was almost never used on the top offensive line, as the team elected to spread out their talent and put Ryan on a line with his bothers Jack and Nick most of the time. This limited the Habs prospects offensive opportunities, but allowed him to carry a line offensively while playing a key role in shutting down the opposition’s best players.

The coaching tactic certainly worked as St. Cloud was a powerhouse program for Poehling’s career. They were often ranked right at the top of the weekly rankings, winning 55 of 79 games played during Poehling’s last two seasons with the Huskies.

During his time at college, Poehling also had the opportunity to wear the USA jersey on several occasions as well. He never disappointed while representing his country.

He scored four goals and six points in four games at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and had three goals and five points in seven games at the World Under-18 Tournament which are both showcase events for draft eligible players like Poehling was at that time.

The Habs prospect also suited up at two World Junior tournaments. As an 18 year old, he played a depth role for USA, being tasked with shutting down opponents and playing smart defensive hockey. He did not disappoint in that role and also added a goal and three points in seven games.

The following year, Poehling was dominant at the World Juniors, taking over games at both ends of the ice, scoring five goals and eight points in seven games and being the best defensive forward on the ice as well. He was named MVP of the tournament for his terrific efforts and helped USA win a silver medal.

The 2019-20 season was Poehling’s first as a pro and he suffered some growing pains to be sure. He played 27 games with the Canadiens but one had one goal and one assist. He was often stuck on the left wing of the fourth line and just couldn’t get anything going and looked to completely lose his confidence.

He was mercifully sent back to the AHL where he would play 36 games in total for the Laval Rocket. He had five goals and 13 points, which is a bit of a disappointment for such a highly touted prospect. Under the tutelage of Rocket head coach Joel Bouchard, a big bounce back season is expected from Poehling whenever the 2020-21 season gets the green light.

Poehling has quite the pedigree from his time with the St. Cloud State Huskies and USA Hockey. He scored a hat trick in his first NHL game at the end of the 2018-19 season and looked great in training camp at the start of last season. However, he suffered a concussion after taking a big hit in a preseason game and just never found his footing with the Canadiens after that.

A lengthy offseason of training and forgetting about the 2019-20 season might be exactly what Poehling needed. He has a great two-way game and though he may never be a point per game player at the NHL level, there is a great possibility he could turn into the next Phillip Danault with a little patience.

His first pro season was a bit rocky, but that doesn’t mean Poehling isn’t still one of the Habs best prospects. In fact, we think he is just outside the top five on the Canadiens prospect ranking. It isn’t out of the question that he takes on a fourth line centre role in the upcoming season and works his way up the lineup from there.

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The 21 year old has been bulking up the past couple years and could be quite a handful down the middle of the ice for opponent’s of the Montreal Canadiens in the coming years.

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