Montreal Canadiens: NCAA Free Agents the Habs Need To Target

The Montreal Canadiens were fairly busy leading up to the trade deadline on Monday, March 21st.

They traded Tyler Toffoli and Ben Chiarot well before the deadline passed, but also pulled off deals for Artturi Lehkonen and Brett Kulak on Monday before running out of time.

Now that the deadline has passed, trade rumours will surely quiet down, but it didn’t mean the Canadiens were done with transactions.

The team announced the signing of Jordan Harris last night. The third overall pick from the 2018 NHL Draft just finished his college career with Northeastern following an overtime loss to Western Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. This completed Harris’ fourth season of college hockey and thus, his NCAA career was over.

He could have waited until the summer and became a UFA and signed wherever he wanted. But, just a day after being eliminated from the college hockey tournament, Harris agreed to terms with the Canadiens on a two-year entry-level contract.

The Canadiens will have a similar decision to make with Brett Stapley who is scoring over a point per game for Denver and just wrapping up his fourth and final college campaign. He was a 7th round pick in 2018 but has shown steady improvement during his college career and is a strong two-way centre for one of the top college teams in the country.

Stapley could sign, but who else could be on the Habs radar? Any undrafted players could be signed by any NHL team and not many NHL teams need immediate help as much as the Canadiens right now.

Let’s take a look at a few interesting available players who could add some depth to the Canadiens prospect pool.

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.

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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