Montreal Canadiens: 7 Habs Headlines From Past 7 Days

7. Sean Farrell

I began this colum with a Habs prospect and I will conclude it with another. Sean Farrell, a player whose drafting I quite literally cheered for, has been lighting up the USHL in his second season with the Chicago Steel. He was meant to play for Harvard this season, but that got pushed back to next year when they cancelled their season. He is thus playing competition significantly below his skill-level and younger than him.

Farrell is in his draft+1 year, but was also among the older players in his draft class, so much of his competition consists of players a year or two his junior. With this in mind, he should be dominating the league… and he is. He is first in league scoring, tied for 3rd in goals and has set a USHL record with a 24-game (and counting) point streak. He also has 11 more assists than any other player in his league. The 5’9″ left winger has scored 18 goals and 37 assists for 55 points in 27 games (2.04 points per game).

While it is impossible to judge just how good Farrell would have been for Harvard this season, it is of comfort to Habs’ fans that he has significantly improved upon his results last season, when he scored 15 goals and 41 assists for 56 points in 44 games (1.27 points/game). His playmaking has always been his strength. I’d go as far as to say he was one of the top 7 pure playmakers in the 2020 draft class. His skating, size and unwillingness to shoot the puck hurt his perceived value and caused him to drop to the final selection of the 4th round.

Farrell notched this primary assist on the powerplay yesterday, one of his three assists in the game. Farrell thinks the game at a far higher level than his opposition, it should be interesting to see how his hockey IQ will look at the NCAA level next season.

While Farrell’s skating still isn’t a strength of his, though it isn’t particularly bad, his shot and his willingness to shoot have massively improved since last season. Farrell has already scored 3 more goals than he potted last year in 17 fewer games. His one-timer on the powerplay is a legitimate weapon.

While watching Farrell play, I’ve also fallen in love with his teammate Matthew Coronato’s playing style. The draft-eligible player leads the USHL in goals and is incredibly hard-working; he really has a great shot. He’s currently projected as a late first-rounder/early second-rounder. I’d really like for the Habs to snatch Coronato at the draft, he and Farrell have great chemistry, and the 5’10” right shot left winger could learn his trade from Brendan Gallagher.

I very much hope you enjoyed this first iteration of my 7 talking points column, though you should expect the following ones to (hopefully) be quicker reads; I don’t exactly have the time to write 3000-word pieces every week! If there are any storylines you would like to hear a bit more about within the next week, please do leave a comment and suggest it!

All NHL statistics sourced from Natural Stat Trick; all other statistics sourced from EliteProspects.