EP Rinkside ranks Montreal Canadiens No. 3 in NHL Prospect Pool Rankings
By Nate Duffett
Elite Prospects recently did a day-by-day feature ranking all 32 teams' prospect pools in the NHL. The Canadiens were No. 3, sitting behind the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. They also ranked each prospect in the organization, with Ivan Demidov in the top spot.
David St-Louis was in charge of the Canadiens' article, EP Rinkside's Lead Scout.
- Ivan Demidov
- David Reinbacher
- Lane Hutson
- Joshua Roy
- Jacob Fowler
- Michael Hage
- Owen Beck
- Logan Mailloux
- Adam Engstrom
- Emil Heineman
St-Louis says that Demidov is the greatest prospect the Canadiens have had in years. He believes that he has the potential to be the team's top offensive driver in the future. One interesting thing is they only rank Demidov's skating a 5 on a 1-9 scale. They do have his passing, puckhandling, and sense as an 8.
St-Louis also had high praise for Reinbacher. He says that a room full of NHL scouts would design someone who looks much like Reinbacher as the perfect defensive prospect. The fans will always look down upon Reinbacher because of the Matvei Michkov situation, but he is a lock to be in the team's top four for years to come.
An interesting rank was Roy at No. 4. The consensus among fans is that Jacob Fowler, Michael Hage, Logan Mailloux, and even Owen Beck have more potential, but it seems Elite Prospects has high hopes for Roy. They believe that Roy could become the perfect middle-six, complementary player.
Some other notable prospects on the rankings are Oliver Kapanen at No. 12, Florian Xhekaj at No. 16, Aatos Koivu at No. 22, and Vinzenz Rohrer at No. 25.
EP Rinkside is behind a paywall, but if you are interested in lengthy breakdowns of some of the league's best prospects, it's worth the subscription.
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