The Montreal Canadiens weren’t likely to have many players playing at the Olympics if NHL players were taking part.
Maybe Carey Price if he could get healthy. Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia would have had a shot at the Finnish roster, though Armia’s poor season might have cost him. Other than that? Jeff Petry played his way off the USA blue line. Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli are the team’s top scorers but they weren’t going to make a stacked Canadian lineup.
Since it was announced NHL players will not be taking part, a couple of Canadiens prospects have been widely rumoured to be heading to the prestigious tournament. There has been a lot of chatter that Kaiden Guhle will be there on Team Canada, but that is not official yet.
What is official, is that Canadiens prospect Sean Farrell will be playing for Team USA at the upcoming Winter Games. The Hopkinton, Massachusetts native was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Habs. He is currently playing his first season of college hockey at Harvard where he has scored eight goals and 19 points in 13 contests.
WATCH: Nick Abruzzese and Sean Farrell React To U.S. Olympic Team Selection #GoCrimson #USAHockey pic.twitter.com/39ZL0vjVKj
— Harvard Men's Hockey (@HarvardMHockey) January 13, 2022
Farrell is a very skilled offensive player who is average about 1.5 points per game as a freshman in college hockey. His greatest asset is his ability to set up a teammate with a terrific pass at exactly the right time. He was ranked much higher by almost everyone than the 124th pick which was where he was selected in the 2020 NHL Draft, and he is proving that he should not have fallen as much as he did.
USA has gone with a fairly young roster as there are many college players on the team. It will be a much different looking Olympics than they ones we have seen with Sidney Crosby and Carey Price playing starring roles, but it will be fun to watch some of the Canadiens top prospects on such a big stage.