Montreal Canadiens: In other news… Gallagher’s Regression, Roy’s Hot Start

Former Habs Barber, Fucale, Impressing Early in KHL

Now for something a little different, the earlier start to the KHL’s regular-season compared to the NHL, means there’s always storylines to follow regarding how former NHLers have fared overseas.

For as strange as it may sound, a quote unquote “lower quality of play” doesn’t always mean a former NHLer will succeed in the KHL (Dwight King lasted just one season there before being bought out). Typically, it’s players who struggled on the smaller North American rinks that thrive on the larger ice overseas.

Case in point with two former members of the Canadiens organization, who had varying degrees of success when it came to their transition from the AHL, to the NHL, in Riley Barber and Zach Fucale, both of whom have found an early place in the KHL to start this season.

It’s not exactly secretive information when I say the Laval Rocket have gradually shifted from being a veteran AHL team to a development one, putting more focus on prospects whilst having two or three AHLers on two-way NHL contracts, while other veterans like Brandon Gignac and captain Gabriel Bourque are signed to AHL-only deals.

In both cases, it keeps players committed to the team dynamic, something Barber well… did not do, and this ultimately led to the Canadiens being extremely hesitant going forward when it came to signing proven AHL contributors. The son of former Philadelphia Flyers star Don Barber, Riley managed just 16 games in the NHL before heading overseas this past off-season, recording 0 points and 4 PIMS, playing 9 games for the Habs in 2019-20.

Montreal brought Barber in alongside former AHL MVP Phil Varone to lead Laval’s offense, but it became clear from the onset that both these players cared about little but their own individual performance, something that is unfortunately common with career AHLers who know they will likely never make the NHL full-time.

In situations like that, rather than buying into the team dynamic and being a presence in the locker room, they will instead score their 20 goals, ignore their teammates, and go home, something head coach Joel Bouchard and company eventually grew tired of, dealing both to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Joseph Blandisi and Jake Lucchini.

With that being said though, Barber was still a reliable and consistent 30-goal threat in the AHL, yet simply never did anything when he got his chance in the show. With 22 points in 22 games thus far this season with Nur-Sultan Barys, Barber is fourth in the KHL in scoring sitting just a point back of second place. It’s safe to say the larger ice surface worked out in this case, and I think we’ll be seeing Barber bounce around a few different leagues over the next few seasons, and it will be interesting to see how he fares offensively.

Similarly, you could say I was a little surprised when I found former Canadiens prospect Zach Fucale as the starting goaltender for Chelyabinsk Traktor going into this season. Once considered the heir to Montreal’s crease after Carey Price, Fucale won pretty much everything you could win at the junior level and was the first goalie taken in the 2013 NHL draft going 36th overall.

However, things simply never panned out that way, as a solid but unremarkable rookie season in 2016-17 would be Fucale’s last full-time AHL role until 2020-21 (yes you heard that right). Going from a top prospect with the Habs to a run-of-the-mill ECHL goaltender surviving off one-year AHL deals, Fucale’s last shot at the NHL with the Washington Capitals ended up being the one that stuck, serving as the starter for the Hershey Bears for three seasons whilst miraculously making the NHL against all odds, recording a 21-save shutout in his debut.

With prospect Hunter Shepard having claimed the crease in Hershey, Fucale now finds himself with Traktor, posting a remarkably solid 2.40 GAA and .915 SVP over 16 games, as he should continue to factor in as the team’s starting goalie.

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