Canadiens: Three First Round Projects To Pursue In The Off-Season
Yes, I know obvious choice is obvious, but quite frankly I can’t do a piece discussing failed or in this case struggling former first rounders without mentioning Patrick, the former second overall pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 Draft who in essence completely butchered the franchise’s future, just based on who went after. Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen, Elias Pettersson, Suzuki (yes really), and Kailer Yamamoto just to name a few. While Flyers GM Ron Hextall (and seemingly only Hextall) saw Patrick as a future first line centre, that entirely and utterly has not been the case, though this admittedly is really no fault of his own. After posting 41-61-102 totals over 72 games with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings in an immensely impressive sophomore season, Patrick struggled out the gate in two underwhelming sophomore seasons with Philly before, well, injuries happened.
With a migraine disorder knocking him out for the entire 2019-20 season, Patrick has struggled with numerous injury problems since his sophomore season in 2018-19, and as such has seen his production drop off a cliff, with just 6-10-16 totals over his last 77 games in the past two seasons. In spite of all of this however, I still don’t think that Patrick is an entirely lost cause, just not in the role he was originally envisioned to play. While it’s clear that his offensive abilities leave much to be desired, Patrick has shown glimpses of potential as a defensive presence and showed occasional promise as a penalty killer at times over his first two seasons in Philly (we don’t talk about the third season).
While he’s still yet to have a full season under his belt in three years and is need of some more refining in many ways after adjusting to a new system since being dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this season, I quite frankly think Patrick has all the tools to be a solid third line center. While his trade value is still up in the air in many ways, throwing a mid round pick and a lower-level prospect like William Lagesson could net an interesting return for the Habs, and a chance for Patrick to finally prove he’s more than just the guy who went before everyone else.
The New York Islanders have boasted some of the NHL’s best depth over the past few seasons as they’ve experienced a resurgence since the departure of Captain John Tavares. While 2021-22 was largely an outlier with this in spite of an impressive season from goaltender Ilya Sorokin (leading to the questionable dismissal of head coach Barry Trotz) Michael Dal Colle continues to be another victim of the Isles depth at forward even as the team dealt with injury troubles and a lack of offensive consistency over the course of this season. A former fifth overall pick of the team in the 2014 Draft, Dal Colle had shown promise as a potent offensive winger in his four seasons with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and Kingston Frontenacs, posting back-to-back 90-point seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Since then, however, Dal Colle has managed to get into just 112 NHL games total with New York since making his professional debut in the 2015-16 season. While he briefly found a role as an infrequent healthy scratch/fourth line option over the past three seasons, 21-22 saw him return to AHL Bridgeport where’s he’s continued to be a solid offensive option, posting PPG totals of 18-16-34 over 34 games in the 2018-19 season. Unlike most of the prospects discussed here, Dal Colle’s name has largely disappeared from the public eye in spite of a similar draft stock and being that he’s just entering the prime of his career at 25 years old.
While I don’t see him being an immediate offensive option for a team like the Canadiens, Dal Colle’s value is at it’s lowest with him being set to become an RFA at the end of this season, and it would likely take little more than one mid to late round pick to acquire his rights. In exchange, the Habs would receive some noted upside and, in my opinion, offensive potential from a largely, if not entirely unfulfilled first round pick.
It was a tough 2021-22 season for Olli Juolevi, after numerous question marks were raised about the future of the Vancouver Canucks once fifth overall pick in the 2016 Draft. A talented two-way defenseman coming out of the OHL’s London Knights, Juolevi showed promise alongside professional competition whilst playing for SM-liiga club TPS Turku in the 2017-18 season. Since then, however, Juolevi has done little to convince both fans, analysts, and GMs alike that he has come close to reaching that fifth overall potential.
After struggling to make the Canucks roster out of the gate, Juolevi was given a 23-game run with the team in the injury plagued Covid bubble season in 2020-21, posting 2-1-3 totals. Ultimately unimpressed by what they saw, the Canucks shipped Juolevi to the Florida Panthers in exchange for former Canadiens first rounder Noah Juulsen and fourth line energy winger Juho Lammikko. After an unimpressive 10-game stint in Florida, Juolevi hit the waiver wire where he was claimed by the Detroit Red Wings. All in all, the 6’02 blueliner managed no points over 18 games this season with a -1 rating.
In spite of all this however, I wouldn’t put Juolevi down as an entirely lost cause just yet, and feel, in my mind, he’s needing of a stint with a true basement dweller to see how he could play with increased minutes and a chance to be something more than just an injury fill in. With the Canadiens defense poised for a rebuild and restructuring next season (along with much of the rest of the roster) I could see Juolevi being an interesting and surprising contributor for the Habs a la Chris Wideman or Corey Schueneman, possessing, like Dal Colle, bottom of the barrel trade value to boot.
Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!
Related Story. Three Canadiens Prospects Unlikely To Get Contract Offers. light