3 promising prospects who could find a role on the Canadiens next season
The Montreal Canadiens have one of the league’s better prospects pools. It’s a testament to a rebuilding organization, and there is a lot of NHL-ready talent.
Teams like the Montreal Canadiens have prospect pools that can churn out quite a bit of NHL-ready players in a short time, so it’s not surprising that they possess one of the league’s better groups.
The pool has also seen one particular defenseman play in at least half of Montreal’s games this year in Justin Barron. He played in 41 contests with the Canadiens, and he saw time with the big club until January 20th of this year.
Despite the eventual demotion, Barron did produce during his time in Montreal this season, with 12 points and six goals in those 41 games to go with 18:47 of average total ice time. The latter was nearly a two-and-a-half-minute increase from the 16:18 he saw in 39 outings just a season ago.
The 22-year-old also proved himself to have a nose for getting in front of opposing scorers, posting 51 blocks. His 52 hits also showed that he has a physical edge, both of which we also saw last season.
Justin Barron is one of a few to watch in the Canadiens system
Barron could wind up in a full-time role in the NHL next season, assuming Montreal re-signs him following the season, given his experience and respectable productivity over the past two years. It’s clear his game still needs fine-tuning, or else the Canadiens would have kept him in the NHL, but he will at least get another long look.
That could also be the case for one other player on this list of three promising prospects who you may see in a Canadiens uniform next year. The other two in the following slides aren’t yet NHL-ready, and they will likely spend most of 2024-25 with the AHL’s Laval Rocket next season.
But since the Canadiens will likely spend at least one more year building, there is a good chance they can end up with a late-season role.