Montreal Canadiens: An Ode to Victor Mete

Ah, Victor Mete, we hardly knew ye. Did Marc Bergevin bring you up too fast? Or was your stay with the Montreal Canadiens never met to last?

The Ottawa Senators claimed defenceman Victor Mete from the Canadiens, who placed him on waivers earlier.

Victor Mete is a young defenceman, 22, and is undersized for the NHL, but is fast, as all small NHL players are. He doesn’t provide much offence, but can move with the puck well.

In 2016, Marc Bergevin drafted Victor Mete lucky number 100 in the NHL entry draft, which is in the 4th round. His pick was overshadowed by Montreal’s 9th overall pick that year, fellow defenceman Mikhail Sergachev.

And fairly so, there is not much excitement for 4th round picks for good reason. Victor Mete played 185 games with Montreal, which is the most NHL games by a player picked past 47th overall, which was Samuel Girard. The only player after him to play more games was Jesper Bratt, 162nd overall.

He was drafted the year before Ryan Poehling, and well before Jesperi Kotkaniemi came onto the scene. This was four years after Alex Galchenyuk was drafted, and the players in between didn’t instill much confidence.

Michael McCarron, Nikita Scherbak and Noah Juulsen were the number one picks in between, and they aren’t exactly the most exciting prospects. None made the jump to the NHL fast, and none are in the Canadiens’ system anymore.

Times were dire for Montreal prospects, and it felt like something had to be done. It was surprising that 100th overall pick got called up straight from the OHL to the Canadiens training camp. More surprising was that he made the team. The most surprising? That he was on the top d-pairing with Shea Weber.

Was this too much too early? No question. Weber, the big, physical, more defensive defenseman, is the ideal partner for Mete, and lets him wheel around the offensive zone. But, being on the top line means playing against the best players in the league and lots of minutes a night.

And he never recovered from that start. The expectations were too high. 100th overall pick playing 185 games? That’s fantastic. Only 12 players in the 4th round have played an NHL game in their career so far.

A defenseman that started his career on the top pairing in the NHL being a fringe NHL defenseman and spending time in the AHL? That’s a disappointment. But that wasn’t what Mete is, and not what he should have been billed as. But its not his fault.

It took him three seasons to get his first NHL goal, but it was worth it. Not that the goal against Minnesota was particularly amazing, but the reaction was. Seeing all the guys celebrate on the bench was great. Then he exploded for two goals against Boston.

It was never all sunshine and roses. Victor Mete was never a great defensive defenseman, for what its worth. It was never his strongsuit, especially with his smaller stature making it hard to knock forwards off the puck or away from the front of the net.

But he was always fun to watch. His wheeling and dealing was always a joy to watch, even if it didn’t work out a lot of the time. He will still be a lot of fun in Ottawa, playing with one of the best young defensemen in the league in Thomas Chabot and there is still time for the young man to grow.

It’ll be fun to see what Victor Mete can do on a young exciting Ottawa Senators team, and certainly everyone wishes him the best with his new team. Thanks for the memories, Mete, see you on Saturday.