Montreal Canadiens: NCAA Free Agents the Habs Need To Target

Goaltenders

With Carey Price and Jake Allen on the roster, signing with the Montreal Canadiens probably isn’t the ideal landing spot for an undrafted college free agent. However, the Canadiens have a lot of question marks in goal heading into next season.

Will Carey Price be back? Will Jake Allen get traded? Will Samuel Montembeault return? Is Cayden Primeau ready?

There could be some opening for an older, rookie, pro to get some starts in Laval or Montreal next season.

Dryden McKay

Dryden McKay plays goal for Minnesota State and he has put up some incredible numbers over his four year career.

This season, McKay has a record of 36-4-0 with a 1.31 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. Two years ago, his numbers were even better when he had the same GAA to go with a .942 SV%. Last season he posted a 1.54 GAA and a .924 SV%.

His numbers are incredible, though they are a bit inflated by the weaker conference that he plays in. While Minnesota State is a contender for a national title every year, the next best team in the CCHA is ranked 29th in the country.

It will be really interesting to see how the 24 year old transitions to the pro level. He has incredible stats in college, and has played great against top teams in the NCAA, but he just hasn’t played them all that often.

Ryan Fanti

If McKay lacks star opposition, it might be because Fanti is playing against the best teams in the country every weekend.

The 6’3″ netminder saw his college season end last night at the hands of Denver. Fanti played goal for Minnesota-Duluth this season who were in the NCHC conference.

Also in that conference are the aforementioned Denver who are ranked the 4th best team in college hockey and are off to the Final Four. Western Michigan will look to join Denver there today and are ranked 3rd in the country. North Dakota is in that conference and are ranked 7th and St. Cloud State is there as well and are the 10th best team in the country.

That’s some tough competition on a nightly basis for Fanti, but he was more than up to the task in his Junior season. He posted a 1.83 GAA and a .929 SV% on the season.

The 22 year old looks ready to play pro but could elect to return for another season at Minnesota-Duluth. If he chooses to go pro, the Canadiens should be inquiring about adding him to their prospect pipeline.

Defencemen

The Canadiens have already traded away Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak. Will likely trade Jeff Petry before next season starts, and they could lose Chris Wideman to free agency.

If there is a single area of need it is on the blue line. They already have an influx of young defenders coming in. Justin Barron just arrived via trade. Jordan Harris just signed. Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj and Mattias Norlinder could be playing pro in Montreal or Laval next season.

But, most of those players, aside from Barron, are left defenders so the Canadiens could use another right shot defence prospect to add to the system.

Nick Blankenburg

Nick Blankenburg is well down the list of prominent names on a star studded Michigan team. They feature Owen Power, Matt Beniers, Kent Johnson, and Luke Hughes who were all top five picks last season.

Blankenburg doesn’t get the same credit, but he does play a huge role on the top ranked team in the country. He is a smooth skating right shot defender who runs the team’s power play.

The 23 year old is a bit undersized at 5’8″ but he has 28 points in 36 games and wouldn’t have a ton of competition on the right side of the depth chart to end this season if Petry is injured.

Jake Livingstone

Jake Livingstone has a more well rounded game than Blankenburg, who is more of an offensive defenceman.

Livingstone is 6’3″ and well over 200 pounds and can bring it at both ends of the ice. He plays for Minnesota State and punched his ticket to the Final Four with a 1-0 win over Notre Dame yesterday. A big reason why his goaltender, Dryden McKay, is able to pile up such great numbers is because of the team in front of him and Livingstone plays a big role on one of the nation’s best teams.

He has 30 points in 41 games this season in just his second year of college hockey. He could easily just stay in school next season, but if he sees a path to NHL with the Canadiens he could be enticed by the offer.

Forwards

The Canadiens pretty much need help everywhere so while adding a goaltender could make sense depending on what the future bring for current Habs goalies, and more depth on defence would be great, adding a forward that has shown scoring potential might make the most sense.

Ben Meyers

Ben Meyers is a 23 year old centre playing for Minnesota. They had a terrific season, surprising Michigan by stealing first place in the Big Ten Conference late in the season.

Meyers was a big part of that, scoring 17 goals and 39 points in 32 games to lead the team in scoring. He kept it up in the playoffs, scoring an overtime game winner on Friday night to push Minnesota to a national quarterfinal game today with Western Michigan.

If Minnesota loses, Meyers could elect to leave the school after his third season and sign a pro contract. Not many teams could offer up a spot in the NHL immediately, but the Canadiens definitely have room.

Meyers is known as one of the best two-way forwards in college hockey and played great for USA at the Olympics, scoring four points in four games.

Ethen Frank

You can never have too many goal scorers in the organization, and Ethen Frank is leading college hockey in goals. He has piled up 26 snipes and 39 points in 37 games this season for Western Michigan.

Frank just turned 24, and is playing his 5th season of college hockey, but his ability to put pucks in the net should translate to the pro level and at least help the Laval Rocket in a playoff push.

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