Montreal Canadiens: Several Interesting Players Invited to Tryout at Habs Rookie Camp

The Montreal Canadiens 2021 season went well into July, but the new season is nearly upon us already.

The 2021-22 campaign doesn’t officially begin until the puck drops on October 13, but the buildup to that game will start later this week. The Habs prospects will take part in the annual rookie camp starting on Wednesday and the main training camp follows a week later.

Up first, there are many interesting names on the rookie camp attendance list. Of course, recent early round draft picks are going to get the most attention, and a lot of eyes will be on Kaiden Guhle, Riley Kidney and Jan Mysak.

However, there are nearly a dozen players that have been invited to join the Habs recent draft picks at the rookie camp. Of the 11 players that are not draft picks of the team, there are some very interesting skilled young players to keep an eye on once this version of the team’s training camp begins.

Tag Bertuzzi

Tag is the son of Tyler Bertuzzi and he put up some big numbers in his most recent OHL season. The 2020-21 campaign was wiped out by Covid, but Bertuzzi really broke out the previous year. He scored 25 goals and 47 points in 57 games in what would be considered his 18 year old Junior season. He played 22 games in Slovakia’s second best pro league last year and scored 23 points, leading his team though he missed 13 games.

Bertuzzi could possibly head back to the OHL for his overaged season this year, but a strong rookie camp could earn him an invitation to the Habs main camp which could lead to a contract with the Laval Rocket. After performing well in the OHL two seasons ago and showing well in a pro league last year, stepping into the AHL for 2021-22 isn’t out of the question.

Isiah Campbell

Campbell is a big 20 year old forward looking to catch on with an AHL team for the upcoming season. His 6’4″ and 216 pound frame will certainly garner some attention. His best season in the QMJHL was in 2019-20 when he scored 26 goals and 60 points in 63 games for the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He started this season with eight points in five games before a trade to the Shawinigan Cataractes.

A little deeper up front, Shawinigan didn’t give Campbell the same offensive opportunities and he had just nine points in 24 games. Still, his size and previous scoring punch with Drummondville make him an interesting prospect to watch.

Mika Cyr

Mika Cyr is another young player that didn’t play last season, but he had a terrific career in the QMJHL with the Moncton Wildcats. HIs best season saw him score 28 goals and 67 points in 66 games but he also had years with 40 points in 44 games and finished his Junior career with 58 points in 64 games, including 37 goals that season.

At 5’9″ he is an undersized but abundantly skilled forward and one who could stand out at this week’s camp.

Ivan Zhigalov

The Belarussian goaltender is heading to Quebec this season to play for the Sherbrooke Phoenix. He has not played a ton of hockey in the past two seasons but when he has played he has been impressive. He played just three games in Russian’s top Junior league last season but posted a 1.20 GAA and a .939 SV%. He also backstopped the Belarus Under-18 team for eight contests and posted a 2.58 GAA and a .920 SV%. It will be interesting to see what he can do at the rookie camp after not being in the net a lot recently.

Of course, bigger name prospects like second round picks Jesse Ylonen and third round pick Mattias Norlinder should stand out at this event since they are closer to NHL ready. But the aforementioned invitees will be very interesting to watch as well.

The camp begins Wednesday with off ice workouts and the 27 players taking part will then be on the ice every day until Tuesday, September 21 when they face a team of Canadian University All-Stars.

A full, detailed roster can be found here.

The rookies will face the Ottawa Senators rookies in exhibition games on Saturday in Ottawa and then Monday at the Bell Sports Complex.