Montreal Canadiens Prospect Report: Another Ho-Hum 3 Point Weekend for Riley Kidney

Montreal Canadiens prospects are absolutely tearing up the QMJHL this season.

Joshua Roy and Xavier Simoneau, a fifth and sixth round draft pick from last offseason, have taken turns leading the league in scoring.

Simoneau is injured so he will fall back of that pack, but Roy was just somehow cut from Team Canada at the World Juniors even though he has 45 points in 25 games for the Sherbrooke Phoenix this season.

Though they are the two headliners in the QMJHL right now, they aren’t the only Canadiens prospects piling up points in that league. Riley Kidney was the Canadiens second round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and he isn’t far behind his fellow Habs picks.

After 27 games for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan this season, Kidney has scored 17 goals and 39 points. He is currently sitting 9th in league scoring and is 12 points head of his nearest teammate.

Over last weekend, Kidney played a pair of games, and came away with three points. It’s really what we should expect from him in a two game weekend as he is averaging 1.44 points per game this season.

Still, it’s worth taking a quick look back at how he ended up with a goal and two helpers on the weekend.

Kidney started his weekend with an assist in the first period against the Charlottetown Islanders. He makes a simple play to get the puck low that starts everything. He stays up high in a defensively responsible position since his two wingers are already down low on the forecheck. Once an Islander comes out of the pile with the puck, Kidney cuts off his easy passing lane and doesn’t allow him to move the puck up ice.

Kidney then stays in a strong defensive position, reading what the defender is going to do next. When the defenceman tries to fire the puck up ice, Kidney knocks it down with good hand eye coordination and takes over possession of the puck. He then draws the defender close to him but turns away to protect the puck and makes a short, but smart pass that allows his teammate to blow past the defender that Kidney has been toying with for ten seconds now.

That teammate cuts to the net and fires in a backhand, giving Kidney his 21st assist of the season.

The game remained 1-0 into the third period, until Kidney extended it himself. He was thrown out of a faceoff in the offensive zone but ended up with the puck anyway as he pounced on it after his “centre” won the draw. Kidney just turned toward the net and chose to drive towards it, amidst four sticks and opposing players that were trying to stop him.

They were not successful as Kidney deftly stickhandled through two of them before firing a backhand on net, picking up his own rebound and sliding it past the goaltender.

The next night, the Titan were hosting the Val D’Or Foreurs. With the game tied at one, Kidney received a drop pass just inside the opponent’s zone. He makes it look like he is going wide on the defender, but just as he gets to the puck he makes a 90 degree turn on a dime, draws the back checker to him which leaves his teammate wide open. Kidney finds that open teammate, Joseph Henneberry, immediately and he fires the eventual game winner into the net.

It was Kidney’s third point of the weekend and really, it isn’t surprising at all that he would score three points in two games. It’s just fun to watch his highlights every weekend.

The Enfield native scored three points, won 60% of his face-offs, killed penalties, ran the power play and helped his team win both games. In other words, another regular ho-hum weekend for Canadiens prospect Riley Kidney. Why didn’t Team Canada give this guy a call for the World Juniors?