Montreal Canadiens: Five Possible Future Habs Prospects To Watch at World Juniors

The Montreal Canadiens are headed toward another top five pick in the 2022 NHL Draft which they are scheduled to host in July.

This has fans already looking to the future and with the World Junior Hockey Championships underway in Edmonton and Red Deer, fans of every NHL team are getting a sneak peek at some of their best prospects from around the world.

The Canadiens are no exception with 2020 1st round pick Kaiden Guhle, 2020 2nd round pick Jan Mysak and 2021 2nd round pick Oliver Kapanen suiting up for their respective countries this year.

However, those are not the only three prospects you should be keeping a close eye on at this year’s tournament. The Canadiens are about to enter into sellers mode before the March 21 trade deadline and could find themselves with a couple of extra early draft picks before the deals are done.

So, not only do we need to keep an eye on Canada to see Guhle, Czechia to watch Mysak and Finland to keep an eye on Kapanen, but there are a slew of other players in this tournament that could soon be a top five pick of the Canadiens. Or, after a couple of trades we could be seeing the Habs take one of these young players late in the first round or early in the second round of the July draft.

So, who should you be watching in this tournament? These five players will surely be getting an extra look from Canadiens scouts in the coming days.

Simon Nemec

The Montreal Canadiens are not in a place to pick and choose what position they want to select early in the 2022 NHL Draft. They pretty much need help everywhere, but getting a right show defenceman would be a huge bonus.

Well, if they get a top five pick like anyone would predict at this point then they could do a lot worse than Simon Nemec.

Nemec is a Slovakian defenceman that is going to play a prominent role for an underdog team in this tournament. Not only are they an underdog but they are also in a very difficult pool which will see them face the United States, Sweden and Russia in their preliminary round play. They will also face Switzerland which is really their only chance for a win and a chance to advance to the quarterfinals.

The tough tests will provide Nemec some difficult competition which will really put him under the spotlight. His team is not expected to do well, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on Nemec to see how he handles the depth and talent of Sweden, Russian and USA.

Nemec is likely the top defender to be drafted in the upcoming NHL Draft and will surely be taken in the top ten, if not the top three. He has good size at 6’1″ and 192 pounds and scored four points in five games in last year’s World Juniors.

He is one to keep and eye on for sure for Habs fans who will see their team draft in the early portion of the 2022 NHL Draft.

Logan Cooley

The Canadiens have Nick Suzuki locked in long term as the team’s top centre and Christian Dvorak has to be better over the next three years of his contract than he has been this season, but they could still add a scoring centre early in the 2022 NHL Draft.

Even if they pick as early as second overall, it is going to be difficult to pass up on American centre Logan Cooley.

The Pittsburgh native plays for the Untied States Under-18 Development Program where he is their leading scorer in points per game with 14 goals and 30 points in 20 games. He is a creative offensive player who has a dangerous shot but is an even better playmaker than goal scorer. He doesn’t turn 18 until May, making him one of the younger top ranked picks in the 2022 NHL Draft.

Cooley will start the tournament playing a top six centre role for the United States. They are a deep team that has a chance to repeat as gold medal winners. The fact they have a 17 year old playing such a prominent role in the top six shows how talented this player is.

The Canadiens will definitely have an early pick in the NHL Draft and they will be taking a long look at Cooley to join Suzuki and Dvorak down the middle of the ice for the foreseeable future.

Joakim Kemell

The Canadiens have struggled to score goals for many years and could be on the cusp of changing that fate if Cole Caufield pans out as expected and they select Joakim Kemell in the top five of the upcoming NHL Draft.

Kemell is playing this season in Finland’s top league, Liiga. It is not known for having plenty of teenagers lighting the lamp on a regular basis. In fact, many young players end up sitting on the bench for most of their games and don’t put up good offensive numbers.

Kemell is an exception for sure. In 21 games this season, he has already scored 12 goals and 18 points. In his draft year, Patrik Laine scored 17 goals and 33 points in 46 games. Aleksander Barkov scored 21 goals and 48 points in 51 Liiga games in his draft year. Kaapo Kakko was the second overall pick in 2019 after scoring 22 goals and 38 points in 45 games.

Kemell is on pace to be a much better goal scorer in his draft year than any of those aforementioned Finnish players who were all second overall picks.

David Jiricek

We already mentioned Simon Nemec who would be a terrific add for the Canadiens as a young, right shot defender with a ton of potential. Well, David Jiricek also fits that description and the Canadiens sure could use a future top pairing right show defender.

Jiricek is playing for Czechia in the World Juniors this year after scoring a goal and two points in five games at last year’s event. Although, they were known as Czech Republic then.

Jiricek is playing this season in the top league in his home country where he has scored 11 points in 29 games as one of the youngest players in the league. He played in the league last season as well as a 17 year old and scored nine points in 34 games.

Jiricek has an enticing combination of size, at 6’3″ and speed. He is the definition of a future two-way defender in the NHL and just about everyone has him ranked inside the top ten of the 2022 NHL Draft. He can skate the puck up ice, jump into the play, run an opposing player over with a big body check and defend well in his own zone.

Jiricek’s name will be called early in the 2022 NHL Draft. Keep an eye on him early and decide whether you want the Canadiens to be the team picking him.