Canadiens: Three First Round Projects To Pursue In The Off-Season

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.