Canadiens: 3 Players Who Could Surprise at Training Camp

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Montreal Canadiens training camp is underway and these three players could surprise.

Montreal Canadiens training camp is underway. The team gathered together yesterday for the first time, but they won’t hit the ice as a group until later today.

Yesterday was all about doing physical testing, filming clips for media usage and just getting familiar with protocols that were never in place in previous training camps.

Also, Marc Bergevin met with the media and left no doubt that he has high expectations for this team. He thinks all of the new acquisitions, Josh Anderson, Jake Allen, Joel Edmundson, Tyler Toffoli, Corey Perry, Michael Frolik and Alexander Romanov are going to have big impacts and make this team a contender.

Bergevin also noted that Perry and Tomas Tatar have another day of quarantine to take care of today before they can join the team tomorrow. So, it you see a line of Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault and Jordan Weal being used today, just remember that Weal is holding a spot for a day for Tatar.

While Bergevin is excited about the aforementioned players and thinks they could all have a positive impact, there are a few others he didn’t mention that have a chance to impress as well.

Every year there is a player (or two) that surprises everyone and makes the team out of training camp. Two years ago it was Jesperi Kotkaniemi who everyone had pencilled in to play another season in Finland, and Noah Juulsen who looked like he would play another year with the Laval Rocket. However, both players were in the lineup on opening night 2018 and Kotkaniemi stayed there all season.

Last season, not many people predicted Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury would be on the roster on opening night. Yet, both players had such good training camps, they forced the Laval Rocket to look elsewhere for impact players because they were staying with the Canadiens.

It will be more difficult for a player to surprise this season since there are no preseason games. However, the ten day camp will still be plenty long enough for a few players to gain the attention of the Canadiens coaches.

Who could be the biggest surprises at this year’s training camp? Let’s take a look at the top three.

Jul 22, 2020; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Montreal Canadiens coaches Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports /

Vasili Demchenko

You have to like the confidence of a free agent goaltender who chooses to sign with the organization that has Carey Price firmly entrenched as their numbers one goaltender, and also have a star prospect in Cayden Primeau who is ready to take on the number one role with the American Hockey League affiliate.

Maybe he thought he would be able to win the backup job with the Canadiens, but the acquisition and contract extension given to Jake Allen makes that unlikely.

However, don’t be shocked if Vasili Demchenko is getting rave reviews from the Habs coaches at training camp.

Demchenko is a 26 year old goaltender who has played his entire career in his home country of Russia to this point in his career. Last season was not his best, but he was terrific in the KHL for several years before that.

Demchenko played the past five seasons in the KHL, putting up save percentages of .922, .933, .931, .932 and .908 in that time. Overall, in his KHL career, Demchenko had a .925 save percentage in 212 games. This is not because he was playing on a stacked team as Demchenko’s Traktor Chelyabinsk squad was middle of the pack at best. In those five years, though he had a terrific save percentage each year, Demchenko had a record of 81-86-25.

It is difficult to guess how well a player, especially a goaltender, will adjust from a European league to North America. Mikko Koskinen had save percentages of .937, .916 and .915 in his last three seasons with a much superior SKA St Petersburg team. He defiantly isn’t a Vezina contender at the NHL level but he posted decent numbers as the Edmonton Oilers starter last season.

That isn’t to say Demchenko is ready to be an NHL starter, but don’t be surprised if he looks really good in his first NHL training camp after posting excellent numbers in four of last five KHL seasons.

Otto Leskinen

The Canadiens blue line, especially the left side of the blue line, has plenty of NHL caliber options. Ben Chiarot and Joel Edmundson are likely to slot into the top two pairings. The third pairing should go to Brett Kulak, but he has plenty of competition from Victor Mete and Alexander Romanov.

It would take a heck of an effort for someone else make the roster out of training camp, but if anyone is going to do it, that would be Otto Leskinen.

The Finnish defenceman was signed to a two-year entry-level contract in May of 2019. The now 23 year old had played three seasons in Liiga for Kalpa Kuopio before signing with the Habs. His best season in Finland’s top league came in 2018-19 when he scored 31 points in 57 games.

Last season, he suited up for 52 games with the Laval Rocket, scoring a pair of goals and 22 points. He was also called up to make his NHL debut when injuries were piling up for the Canadiens and he would play five games for the Habs before being sent back down.

Leskinen is a smart two-way defender who has four seasons of pro hockey under his belt. Also working in his favour as the Canadiens players take to the ice for this first time today is he has been playing pro hockey in Finland already this season as well. Leskinen scored ten points in 17 games in Liiga while most other defencemen competing for jobs in camp haven’t played since August, and have only played a handful of games since March.

It would take a whale of a training camp for Leskinen to make the NHL roster, but his cap hit is exactly half of Kulak’s this season and the Canadiens are a few dollars over the salary cap at the moment. If Leskinen looks better than Kulak in camp, the Habs could elect to save money by moving Kulak and keeping Leskinen in the NHL.

Ryan Poehling

Ryan Poehling was the Canadiens first round pick in 2017. He played excellent two-way hockey the following two seasons for the St Cloud State Huskies and looked like a budding two-way force at the NHL level.

The Lakeville, Minnesota native was exceptional at the 2019 World Juniors as well. He scored five goals and eight points in seven games and was even better defensively than offensively at the event. His efforts did not go unnoticed as he was named tournament MVP as he helped USA win a silver medal.

You would not have been out of your mind to start comparing him to Ryan O’Reilly or Sean Couturier at that point in his career. Lost expectations for sure, but MVP at the World Juniors and consecutive seasons at nearly a point per game at the college level was a long and very impressive stretch of hockey.

The now 22 year old appeared to have the size, smarts, offensive and defensive skills to be a huge part of the Canadiens in the near future. His hat trick in his one and only NHL game at the end of the 2018-19 season did nothing to slow down the hype train.

Then, the 2019-20 season happened. The 6’2″ and 204 pound centre played 27 NHL games and had just one goal and one assist. He added just 13 points in 36 AHL games for the Laval Rocket.

No doubt Poehling stock dropped about as much as every other stock did in 2020.

However, does that mean he is done as a prospect now? Of course not. Taking the past nine months off to get ready for an NHL season that he was clearly not ready for in 2019 might not be the worst thing for a guy who has the brains to be an NHL player, but could have used a little work on his first step.

If Poehling was able to build on his large frame since we last saw him in March, he could be even bigger and faster than when we saw him dominate at the college level and the World Juniors.

Next. 3 Habs who need to prove they still belong. dark

I’m not about to use the names O’Reilly or Couturier again here, but don’t be shocked if we see a much different Ryan Poehling than the one who struggled in his first pro season.

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