Montreal Canadiens Prospect Joe Vrbetic Quickly Advances in OHL Postseason

The Montreal Canadiens have drafted a few interesting goaltending prospects in the past few seasons.

While Carey Price has been the team’s undisputed starting goaltender for a decade, and the team didn’t need a succession plan, they are building an intriguing group of prospects. One of them may step up as the next starter for the Canadiens, but there is no clear future star in the system.

However, Joe Vrbetic is showing he could be a big part of the team’s future plans in goal.

The 19 year old was a 7th round pick of the Canadiens in the 2021 NHL Draft. He certainly has the size of an NHL goaltender at 6’6″ and 187 pounds. He didn’t play hockey last season since the OHL was shut down, but he is showing why the Habs took a chance on him with a late pick with a strong performance this season.

The Hamilton, Ontario native took on the starter’s role for the North Bay Battallion, a team with high hopes this season. They delivered in the regular season, finishing second in the OHL’s Eastern Conference standings and third overall in the league. They have continued that strong play with a first round sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.

Vrbetic was in goal for 45 games this season. He posted a 29-10-6 record with a 2.87 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.

The Habs prospect had a strong first round against the Ottawa 67’s. Well, three of his four games were quite impressive.

He stopped 26 of 27 shots in the opening game of the series, helping North Bay get off on the right foot with a 4-1 win. Vrbetic wasn’t as strong in Game 2, allowing six goals, but the Battalion offence scored seven to take a 2-0 series lead.

Vrbetic bounced back on the road in Game 3, turning aside 32 of 34 shots in a 3-2 win that gave the Battalion a 3-0 series lead. North Bay turned in a strong defensive effort in Game 4 to close out the series, allowing just 24 shots against. Vrbetic stopped 22 of them and the team skated away with a 3-2 win and a clean sweep in the opening round of the OHL postseason.

As the number two seed in their conference, the Battalion are likely headed for a second round battle with Shane Wright and the Kingston Frontenacs.

A matchup of perhaps the future goaltender of the Canadiens and possibly the Canadiens first overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft will be appointment viewing for Habs fans.

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