Exceptional Future Of Montreal Canadiens Defense On Full Display With Trio Of Goals

The Montreal Canadiens already feature an impressive group of young defensemen on their rebuilding roster.

While David Savard and Mike Matheson are the prominent veterans on the team, the rest of the blue line is filled with promising young players who could develop into a terrific group for the Canadiens in the near future.

Kaiden Guhle is 22 years old, playing on the top pairing and looking fine doing so. Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj are 23 years old and fitting in well at the NHL level while Jayden Struble has jumped into the big league as a 22 year old rookie and surprised everyone by looking like a ten year pro.

What is most impressive about this great group of blue liners is that the best appears yet to come. If anyone forgot about what is just on the horizon, there was a stark reminder of the Canadiens bright blue line future last night.

David Reinbacher saw his Swiss season come to a close last week so he made the jump to the Laval Rocket. He made his American Hockey League debut last night and while expectations were tempered heading in, he made an incredible play in a close game to score his first AHL goal.

Reinbacher, primarily known as a defensive defenseman made a slick stickhandling move to get around a Belleville defender which sent him in one a two on one. He made no mistake firing the puck just inside the far post to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.

It was an impressive goal for anyone, not to mention a 19 year old prospect playing his first game in the second best league in the world.

It also set the stage for an impressive game winning goal from another talented Canadiens defense prospect.

Logan Mailloux was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft and has done nothing but score points at the OHL and AHL level ever since. He was named an AHL All-Star in his first pro season, and has not slowed down as the season winds down.

The 20 year old right shot defender now has 14 goals and 41 points in 61 games after scoring the game winner in overtime last night. He stands 6'3" and 220 pounds but also has the speed, skill and agility to be all over the ice in a 3 on 3 situtation, like last night when he jumped into the offensive zone, got the puck to a teammate and then gathered a loose puck in the slot before firing a wrist shot into the back of the net.

He might only be 20 and still a rookie in the AHL but it feels like he has been doing this for years.

Of course, the Canadiens most prized prospect on the blue line is Lane Hutson. He has been dominating college hockey for the past two seasons and once again got on the scoresheet in a big game last night.

The Hockey East Conference playoffs are in full swing and the semifinal was played last night between Hutson's Boston University and Maine. Hutson made an incredible puckhandling and skating maneuver in the second period to lead to him scoring the game winning goal.

While Hutson and Mailloux have been doing this all season, and seasons prior, it was surprising to see such offensive instincts from Reinbacher in his first taste of AHL action as well. That shouldn't be expected from him every night, but his defensive game projects to be a great asset for the Canadiens soon.

The other two are going to bring their offensive skills to the Canadiens blue line in the near future as well. An already bright looking blue line is only going to get better and better as this trio arrived in the coming seasons.