The Montreal Canadiens offseason has been especially quiet lately as we head into the second half of July. That is to be expected as most hockey executives get their summer business taken care of early in July and then are hard to find for the rest of July and August.
Unless you work at a golf course pretty much anywhere in North America. Then you’ll find hockey executives all over the place. But they won’t be getting much work done and the Canadiens have done little since trading Joel Edmundson and signed a couple of depth forwards in the first few days of July.
The same can’t be said for the Trois-Rivieres Lions. The Canadiens ECHL affiliate has been busy putting its team together for the 2023-24 season. If the past few days are any indication, they will at least have a particularly strong blue line. The Lions made three different signings recently that will all have a major impact on their defense next season.
First, they brought in Andrew Nielsen. He was a third round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015 but has not reached the NHL level. He has played 258 career games at the AHL level scoring 21 goals and 85 points. Nielsen is 6’4″ and 225 pounds and put up nine goals and 41 points in 47 ECHL games with the Utah Grizzlies last season. His combination of size and skill will make him popular in Trois-Rivieres.
The Lions also signed Eric Hjorth out of Allsvenskan in Sweden. Hjorth was a fourth round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019 but has mostly played pro in Sweden and Finland the past two seasons. At 6’3″ and 192 pounds the right shot defender adds some size and snarl to the back end. He also scored 29 points in 60 games with the Sarnia Sting in 2019-20, his only other season in North America to date.
Trois-Rivieres also brought in Christopher Merisier-Ortiz to add some scoring punch to the blue line. The 22 year old Boisbriand native played the past two seasons in the ECHL, scoring 32 points in 44 games last season and 38 points in 54 games the prior season. The 5’11” and 172 pound left defender also played 23 AHL games over the past two seasons scoring five points.
All three players should play big roles on the Lions blue line next season and give them a much better chance of making the ECHL Playoffs.
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