Afternoon hockey consumption became much easier when Jeff Marek returned to the airwaves with his new show, "The Sheet." Marek was formerly on Sportsnet where he had a daily two-hour show at lunchtime, but is now later in the afternoon with Daily Faceoff. He has landed some high-profile guests over the show's first two weeks, but his guest, Pierre McGuire was one who made some interesting remarks about the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and their prospects last week.
McGuire complimented many of the Laval Rocket's players after doing a broadcast of their games against the Providence Bruins a couple of weeks ago. It was a good prediction on his part, as he singled out Florian Xhekaj as one of the players shortly before his unbelievable performance over the weekend. He quickly pointed out that many hockey fans talk about non-Laval prospects, such as Ivan Demidov, Michael Hage, and Jacob Fowler. However, he believes the guys in Laval can't be overlooked.
McGuire's response was an answer to Marek's question about developing players in the AHL. They were talking about how the Buffalo Sabres don't utilize the AHL as well as they should, meaning it's safe to say that McGuire agrees with the Canadiens' rebuilding strategy.
"About a month ago i spent two days in Laval watching the Montreal's farm team play against the Providence Bruins. I would tell you this right now. Montreal, they're all talking about this prospect and that prospect. They got about four guys down there that will come up and help their team within the next year to two years. One of them is Luke Tuch, one of them is Florian Xhekaj, another one is Joshua Roy, another one is Owen Beck, and another one is Logan Mailloux. They've got a wack of guys down there who will be really good."
Marek then asked what Owen Beck looks like in Laval, as he is a diehard OHL guy and curious about the prospect's development.
"Owen Beck's outstanding, and he's starting to put up big numbers now, too. Dominate with the puck, learning how to play in his own zone, and doing a better job on faceoffs. Even though he's not an overly gigantic guy, he's playing bigger. But what I liked was his puck protection skills and his peripheral vision. So, I'm going to say if he's not up by probably game 50 this year in the NHL, he'll be up at the tail end of the year for Montreal."
Will Owen Beck actually be in Montreal before the end of the year? They could bring him up to end the year then send him back to Laval for the postseason (if Montreal doesn't make the NHL playoffs). However, the Habs may want to keep him on a winning team in Laval to not taint him with losing in the show. It'll be an interesting conversation as we get deeper into the season.