Montreal Canadiens: It Is Time To Start The Cedrick Guindon Hype Train

The Montreal Canadiens 2021-22 NHL Draft was the first one run by a new management team. Usually it takes time for people to figure things out at their new job, but the Habs managerial team seems to have done a fantastic job at their first draft.

The supposedly controversial decision to take Juraj Slafkovsky first overall is looking better every time we get to see him play. His combination of size, speed, skill and smarts give him the potential to become a force in a few years.

Filip Mesar was taken late in the first round and then Owen Beck and Lane Hutson were drafted in the second round. All three of them are off to incredible starts with Mesar and Beck piling up points in the OHL and Hutson scoring at over a point per game pace as a freshman defender in college hockey.

Third round picks Vinzenz Rohrer and Adam Engstrom are also off to strong starts to their seasons. Rohrer has 11 points in 11 games for the Ottawa 67’s and Engstrom, a previously unheard of defender, is one of the best Junior aged defencemen in Sweden this season.

The list of hits appear to continue into the fourth round, where the Canadiens may have unearthed another gem. Cedrick Guindon was selected with the 127th overall pick in the draft, but his play early this season proves he should have gone a lot earlier.

His most recent game, which was played between his Owen Sound Attack and the Kingston Frontenacs, saw Guindon pile up three more points.

His first point was a quick pass after picking up the puck at centre ice. He crossed into the attacking zone with possession before sliding a short backhand pass to teammate Julian Fantino who fired home a wrist shot to open the scoring just over one minute into the game.

Guindon showed off his own shot later in the period. He cut through the slot and picked up a pass in his skates. He quickly gathered it to the blade of his stick, and absolutely wired a wrist shot just under the cross bar into the top of the net.

The Canadiens prospect picked up his third point of the night, but it wasn’t quite as pretty. He did make a smart defensive play to cut off a passing lane and caused a turnover by having the puck glance off his leg and head to his teammate.

His linemate Julian Fantino was able to the rest of the work from there and he scored a beautiful goal. While Guindon didn’t have a direct impact on putting the puck in the net, it was his awareness to block the passing lane that led to the scoring chance.

The Canadiens fourth round pick now has five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 13 games this season. He scored 30 goals and 59 points in 68 games last season as a 17 year old, and is now scoring at nearly a point and a half per game clip as an 18 year old.

Guindon is leading his team in scoring and playing a big part in their 9-4-0 start. That is an impressive start to the season for an 18 year old and a fantastic pace for a 4th round pick to be on to begin the season.

The Canadiens had two picks in each of the first three rounds last season and all of them are off to great starts this season. Guindon was not picked until the 4th round, but it is time to start the hype train for this teenager as well because he can not stop scoring in the OHL.

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