Montreal Canadiens fans don’t get a lot of breaking news in the month of August, so here at A Winning Habit, we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 31 prospects currently in the Habs organization. Each player was carefully deliberated by our writers and ranked accordingly. Today, we’re onto the 29th ranked player, Luke Mittelstadt.
The Canadiens kind of went the safe route with their first pick of the 2023 NHL Draft. They could have rolled the dice on a highly skilled forward, but instead went for the all-around defenseman in David Reinbacher who projects to be NHL ready quite soon.
Later on in the draft, the Canadiens chose to take flyers on some players who have been past over in previous drafts and could be described as late bloomers.
One of those late bloomers was Luke Mittelstadt, who the Habs selected with the 197th overall pick in the 7th round. He was originally eligible for the NHL Draft in 2021, but was not taken that year or the following year.
One reason for that was he was playing at a lower level than many other players his age. Mittelstadt had 35 points in 24 games in 2020-21 but was playing at the High School level which is steps below the USHL or NCAA where many other draft-eligible USA players can be found. He did play 12 games at the USHL level that season and had three points.
There were also questions about his size, as he is now 5’11” and 174 pounds, and his skating isn’t terrible, but is also doesn’t stand out for a player his size which was another strike against the left shooting defenseman.
In 2021-22, Mittelstadt moved to the USHL for the entire season and scored 19 goals and 55 points in 60 games for the Madison Capitols. That put him 24th in the league scoring race, and third among all defensemen, but it still was not quite enough to convince an NHL team to take a chance on him.
What changed in 2022-23 was that Mittelstadt showed he could provide offense at the college level. He played for a stacked Minnesota team which featured Ryan Chesley, Brock Faber, Jackson Lacombe and Ryan Johnson on defense, all of whom were previously drafted in the first or second round of the NHL Draft.
Still, Mittelstadt earned an everyday role and was even working some power play time later in the season. He would put up five goals and 21 points in 38 games for Minnesota in his freshman season and is poised to take on a much bigger role with them next season. He helped the Golden Gophers make it to the National Championship game where they lost to Quinnipiac.
The 20 year old also surprisingly jumped onto the radar of USA Hockey and was named to the World Junior team last season. He had three points in seven games for USA, helping the team win a bronze medal. Many players on World Junior teams in North America are first and second round picks, and not many undrafted players get a chance, so it shows how far Mittelstadt came in a short period of time to make that jump.
Mittelstadt will surely return to Minnesota and the Canadiens could retain his rights even if he plays three more years of college hockey. With Lacombe and Faber having already joined the NHL at the end of last season and Johnson signed his entry-level contract meaning his college career is over as well. That leaves the door wide open for Mittelstadt to take a huge step forward next season with a great NCAA program.
While not flashy, Mittelstadt has shown to have a steady, smart presence on the defensive side of the puck. He can’t rely on his size to win battles, so he needs to read the play well and remain in the right spot at all times to be successful and he showed he can do that at the college level.
He has also shown, in a somewhat limited role, that he can score more than half of a point per game from the blue line. With increased importance on the team next season, a huge leap could be coming in the late bloomers development.
The Canadiens will be patient with their late pick, but if he can take those big steps over the next couple seasons with Minnesota, he could jump onto the Laval Rocket blue line as a two-way defender out of college with some potential to be a bottom pairing defenseman for the Canadiens in the future.
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