Montreal Canadiens: Three QMJHL Players To Target To Continue Successful Recent Habs Trend
The Montreal Canadiens, like every team in the league, will enter the offseason hoping to improve their team both in the immediate future and also well down the road.
As a rebuilding team, the Canadiens don't need to focus on quick fixes in the offseason, and will look to add talent through the draft and via trades and signings that will pay off in a few years.
One strategy the Canadiens have used recently is to target local players late in the NHL Draft. This seems to be a recurring trend and it is starting to pay off already with some depth on the NHL roster as well as high potential players who are on the cusp of making a difference.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard is one such example. He was a 7th round pick, who had been passed over in two previous NHL Drafts before the Canadiens grabbed him late in the 2019 draft. He is now a regular contributor on the NHL roster, and though he hasn't put up points this season the same way he did a year ago, the 25 year old is a tenacious winger who can kill penalties, works hard and adds some skill to the bottom six.
In 2021, the Canadiens made a couple of picks out of the QMJHL that are started to look really good. Xavier Simoneau was drafted in the 6th round and he is a scrappy forward who may be undersized but does not let that slow him down. He has scored 29 points in 38 games for the Laval Rocket and is quite a playmaker at the AHL level.
The Canadiens drafted him before his overaged Junior season which gave him no choice really but to play his first pro season on an AHL contract with the Rocket in 2022-23. He played well and signed an entry-level contract with the team for this season and next.
The Canadiens best swing at a local player late in the draft was Joshua Roy who appears to be one of their best prospects. That is in spite of being selected in the 5th round of the 2021 NHL Draft. He has 32 points in 39 AHL games and already earned a call up to the NHL level as a 20 year old.
The Roy pick was a fantastic one, and the others are adding plenty of depth to the organization with a local flavor. Who could the Canadiens target in the upcoming offseason? Let's take a look at three gret options.
Bobby Orr
Yes, seriously. There is a prospect from Beaconsfield, Quebec who is suiting up in the QMJHL this season going by the name of Bobby Orr. While he can't be compared to the legendary Boston Bruins defenseman, he does have plenty of skill.
Orr was actually drafted already, as the Carolina Hurricanes selected him in the 5th round of the 2021 NHL Draft after a strong rookie season with the Halifax Mooseheads. However, they chose not to sign him last summer and lost his rights so he is now technically an unrestricted free agent when it comes to his NHL rights.
Since then, he has expoded offensively with a new team this season. Suiting up for the rebuilding Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Orr has been a go-to guy offensively for them, and now has 18 goals and 63 points in 48 games. This is a huge step forward after he put up 41 points in 65 games last season in what could only be described as a disappointing year for the young player.
Orr is a good sized winger at six feet tall and has plenty of a skill to go with a big of a nasty edge to his game. His point production this season tells us he is ready to contribute at the AHL level next season in a depth role, and could develop into an impact player for the Laval Rocket, while adding some depth to the organization at a young age.
With a name like Bobby Orr, you just can't ignore this player.
Markus Vidicek
Markus Vidicek is a player who really is starting to look like he could follow the same kind of path Rafael Harvey-Pinard took to the NHL. He originally was eligible to be drafted in the 2022 NHL Draft but was passed over. He was passed over once again last spring but continues to just get better on the ice.
Even though he was not selected, Vidicek put up an impressive 65 points in 68 games. Last seaosn, he upped that total to 80 points including 32 goals in 68 games. That left some thinking he could be selected in the 2023 NHL Draft but he was not.
This season, the Kirkland, Quebec native has already scored 35 goals and has 65 points in 47 games for the Halifax Mooseheads. His team lost their top offensive player, Jordan Dumais, following the World Juniors but it has not slowed Vidicek down even without his usual right winger.
Vidicek, who nearly made the World Juniors himself but was among the final cuts, is second in the QMJHL in goals and fourth in the league in points. He is a smart, skilled two-way center who would have been described as a playmaker until this season but has developed a wicked shot as well and is beating goaltenders on a regular basis with his quick release and accurate shot.
Like Harvey-Pinard, if the Canadiens draft Vidicek late in the 2024 NHL Draft they own his rights for two years. That means he could go back and dominate Junior as an overager and then pretty much have to sign an AHL contract to join the Laval Rocket in 2025-26.
Antonin Verreault
Antonin Verreault was the second overall pick in the 2020 QMJHL draft by the Gatineau Olympiques. He obviously entered the QMJHL with a lot of hype as anyone would that is drafted that high.
Things didn't go exactly as planned. The talented left winger battled injuries each of the first three seasons of his QMJHL career. As a rookie he played just 31 games but had six goals and 29 points in that time. That is an impressive points per game pace for a 16 year old in the QMJHL but he missed half the season with injury.
The next season was better, but he still missed some action as he played 56 games and scored 46 points. Last season, Verreault had wrist surgery in the summer and missed most of the first half of the season. Shortly after returning to the lineup, he fractured his jaw and would end up playing 38 games and scored 29 points in that time.
So, his first three seasons didn't exactly go according to plan as he missed significant time with injuries and though he showed offensive promise, and blazing speed, he couldn't put it all together due to lengthy absences.
He was invited to the Edmonton Oilers rookie camp in 2022 and 2023, but not drafted by an NHL team. That wasn't due to a lack of talent, just a lack of views as teams would have no idea what they were getting as they rarely saw him play fully healthy.
Well, they are getting a good look at him healthy in 2023-24. Verreault was traded to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the offseason and the Mirabel, Quebec native is rewarding them for their belief in him. The 19 year old winger has scored 27 goals and 78 points in 50 games to begin this season and is leading the QMJHL in scoring as we enter the stretch drive of the season.
Finally healthy, Verreault is proving to be the player everyone thought he was when he was selected second overall in the QMJHL Draft. That should put him on the radar for NHL teams and the Canadiens would be wise to use one of their final picks of the 2024 NHL Draft on him.
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