5 defensemen prospects Canadiens fans must know about in the 2024 NHL Draft
The Montreal Canadiens have some quality blueliners in their prospects pool, but it doesn’t mean they can’t grab more in the 2024 NHL Draft.
The blueliners currently in the Montreal Canadiens pipeline look promising, and it makes more sense for general manager Kent Hughes to roll with forwards with his first and second picks. Since we should have a great idea of which forward he will take with his first selections, the second first-rounder will be more than interesting to speculate.
While it wouldn’t be surprising if Hughes continued to roll with forwards in the second round, there are still plenty of quality blueliners for him to take when it’s time for him to call a name once again. However, since it’s likely Hughes won’t get many projected first-rounders falling to him with a later pick in the second round, it makes more sense to be realistic with who should be available.
The players you’re about to meet aren’t the flashiest blueliners in the draft, and like most, if not all, slated to be taken on Day 2, they will be long-term developmental projects. But it never hurts to get familiar with a few names that may find themselves in the Habs system once the final weekend in June rolls around.
Stian Solberg, LD/Valerenga
Stian Solberg will start his career in Sweden once the puck drops later this year, and he’s the type of late second, early third-round pick who a team like the Canadiens can leave over in Europe for two seasons before they bring him to North America and into the AHL, Laval in Montreal’s case.
His 6’2, 201 lbs frame brings more than decent size, and his productivity on the back end isn’t bad, with Solberg putting up 15 points and five goals in 42 regular season games before he added another two goals and seven helpers across 17 postseason outings.
Solberg played for a good hockey team in Norway’s professional league, the EHL, so we will get a better look at what he brings once he sees ice time in Farjestad BK’s system in the SHL. He may not have played in the most high-end league so far, but judging from his size and performance at ages 17 and 18, Solberg should be fine as he begins his stint in Sweden.
Leon Muggli, LD/EV Zug
The Canadiens look as though they struck gold with one blueliner from NL in David Reinbacher, so perhaps Kent Hughes strikes again with Leon Muggli. From a size standpoint, Muggli is well behind Reinbacher, but for a prospect best suited to go in the second round of June’s draft, that and everything else is to be expected.
That said, the Canadiens also wouldn’t need to exert as much of a sense of urgency with someone like Muggli as was the case with Reinbacher, who played one more year in NL before he came to Laval and pretty much stole the show. This won’t be the case with Muggli, who, like Solberg, can continue developing in Europe for 2024-25 and even 2025-26.
Anthony Cristoforo, RD/Windsor
The top two names on this list aren’t known for producing points, but that changes with Anthony Cristoforo, who has shown tenacity in the offensive zone with 41 points and six goals across 63 regular season games before tacking on another two points in four postseason games in 2022-23.
Cristoforo returned this season and added another 38 and seven goals in 67 contests, and while that number didn’t increase, Windsor also ended the year with the second-worst points total in the OHL. To make things more interesting, they also allowed an eye-popping 360 goals or 5.29 per game, and they also put up just 247. So it wasn’t an easy year for Cristoforo to produce, but he still put up viable numbers anyway.
Will Skahan, LD/USDP
So far in this slideshow, only Stian Solberg possesses ideal size, but Will Skahan changes that as the USDP product is already an incredible 6’4, 212 lbs, and he won’t turn 18 until mid-May. Look for him to go in the mid-second-round tops, but there is a better chance Skahan is there when the Habs are again on the clock in the late-second-round.
Skahan is likely a stay-at-home blueliner at the pro level, whether his ceiling is ultimately on the third-pairing in the NHL or as a high-end AHL insurance policy. This isn’t assuming Skahan can’t take his game to greater heights, but as it stands, the third-pairing at the NHL is the likeliest role he will play once he’s ready to play at the highest level.
But a lot can change in four seasons, and it’s something Skahan will seek to prove when he attends Boston College for the 2024-25 season. Like many prospects taking the collegiate route, Kent Hughes can snag Skahan, let him play for the Eagles from now until 2027-28, and re-evaluate.
If you’re curious about Skahan’s best numbers, they came this past season in the 56 games he played with the U.S. National U18 Team, where he scored four goals and logged eight helpers. He also put up another six points and four goals in the 24 USHL games he played.
Ben Danford, RD/Oshawa
Ben Danford doesn’t carry the same size as Stian Solberg or Will Skahan, but he could hold more value than both, with his profile at Elite Prospects ranking him between 31st and 65th. So this is a player who could hear his name called late in the first round. And if he falls to Kent Hughes in the late second round, Danford will be hard to pass on.
While his size isn’t at the NHL level yet, it’s also not incredibly far off, at 6’0, 176 lbs. There’s also a good chance that he would only need to gain another 15 pounds of muscle, so it won’t take incredibly long for him to reach that threshold even if it isn’t happening this summer.
Danford has enjoyed a moderate increase in productivity since he debuted for the Oshawa Generals, putting up 21 points and four goals in 63 games last season before he increased that number to 33 this year, including 32 helpers.
That number also shows how well Danford contributes to making things happen when in the offensive zone, and we can expect even more creativity as he heads into Year 3 of his junior hockey career. Danford was also an alternate captain for Oshawa, so there are also implied leadership qualities here.
feed
(Statistics provided by Elite Prospects)