Montreal Canadiens Prospect Report: Riley Kidney Has Terrific Two-Way Game

Montreal Canadiens training camp is wrapping up and the team is down to its final cuts as it prepared for the season opener on Wednesday night.

While the NHL club waits to begin its season, the team’s prospects have begun their Junior or NCAA college seasons already.

They have many intriguing prospects all over North America, and a handful playing in Europe this season as well. One of the top prospects to keep an eye on this season is Riley Kidney.

Kidney was the Canadiens second round pick, 63rd overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. The 18 year old profiles as a crafty, two-way centre who plays for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL this season. He played there last season and scored 13 goals and 38 points in 33 games. He also took off in the postseason with 17 points in just nine games.

In our first of many prospect reports of the season, let’s take a close look at Riley Kidney’s performance against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday, October 9th.

On one of his first shifts of the game, Kidney (#12) was in the perfect position in the defensive zone. The Sea Dogs were attacking and one of their forwards was trying to cut to the middle of the ice to get to a dangerous scoring area. Recognizing this, Kidney stepped up to take away the lane to the slot, and was then able to quickly steal the puck away and prepare for a breakout.

Though his breakout pass was just off the mark, Kidney’s teammate beat out the potential icing. Not long after, Kidney chipped a loose puck into the attacking zone from centre ice and beat the Sea Dogs defender to the puck. You can see him take a few peeks over each shoulder as he realizes he will be the first to the puck. This allows him to read the play and decide what he will do with the puck before he even gets to it.

When he does get to the puck, he quickly darts around the Sea Dogs goal and when he sees the defenceman leave the front of the net, he reaches the puck to his backhand and snaps a perfect pass out to his linemate in the slot who fires home a one-timer.

Hockey sense or awareness, have always been a strength in Kidney’s game. There should really be no surprise to see him in the right spot defensively, or making a defender pay for giving him a little too much time and space with the puck.

One of the knocks on Kidney’s game at the draft was his speed. At least it was supposed to be a weakness. Midway through the first period he made a good read (huge surprise) in the defensive zone and then blew by Sea Dogs defenceman Jeremie Poirier to create a breakaway chance.

Poirier was also drafted in the first round and mostly for his skating and offensive instincts. But, Kidney blew past him to create a breakaway chance early on. He didn’t score, but his speed caught my eye as it was an area I was led to believe he struggled.

Another thing that caught my eye was a zone entry on the power play in the second period. Kidney started off the play with the puck in his own zone and dropped it back to his defenceman by his own net. He then took off with speed down the right wing and received a pass just before the red line.

Kidney carried the puck into the offensive zone but it didn’t look like he had much room to make a play. This is where we often see players blast the puck into the corner and hope for the best. Instead of that, Kidney made a sweet backhand deke and cut between the back checking Sea Dogs forward and the retreating Sea Dogs defender. This allowed him to cut right into the high slot with the puck. Instead of posting up there or shooting right away, Kidney actually skates directly at the Sea Dogs defender on the far side. This forces the defenceman to step up on Kidney, and when he does, Kidney fires a pass down low to a streaking winger, setting up a great chance down low.

Kidney scored early in the second period to give him team the lead. He capitalized on a failed clearing attempt by the Sea Dogs that left the puck up for grabs in the slot.

Kidney made one more creative play late in the game that caught my eye. He was given a dangerous pass in his own zone with less than five minutes to play in the third period. With his team leading, the Sea Dogs defenceman pinched aggressively, looking to steal the puck away from Kidney.

Though he had little time to make a decision, you can see Kidney twice pick his head up and check to see what that defenceman was going to do. When he saw the defender stepping up aggressively, Kidney chipped the puck back quickly to his defenceman deeper in his own zone. That defenceman was able to move the puck up ice and out of the Titan zone.

Overall, watching this game it was clear and obvious that Kidney has a terrific two-way game. The way he reads the play so well, and always has his head on a swivel allows him to make quick decisions with the puck. This is something that translates well to the NHL level. Players can be as skilled as anyone in the big leagues, but they need to be able to read what the opponent is doing and quickly adjust to their surroundings.

Kidney did that terrifically on Saturday night. He scored, he set up another goal, he made a few great defensive plays, played the half wall on the power play on his strong side allowing him to be sort of a quarterback from down low and he was terrific on face-offs.

Kidney now has four goal and seven points in seven games this season. He should be a force for the Titan this season at both ends of the ice.