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.
David Reinbacher is a top prospect who may eventually find a spot
There is a lot of doubt surrounding David Reinbacher following a subpar final season in NL, where he saw just 35 games of action, scored one goal, and recorded 11 total points. It was a disappointment following a season when he played in 49 games, scored 24 points, and found the back of the net four times.
But don’t let those meager numbers this year imply the Canadiens drafted a future stay-at-home player fifth overall in 2023 with zero upside in the offensive zone. Reinbacher’s entire game took a hit, thanks to the fact that EHC Kloten was downright awful. The good news is that Reinbacher recently made the trip to North America, and he will remain with the Laval Rocket for the rest of the year.
He already boasts the size of an NHL player, and that will be a major plus going into his first full season in North America when the puck drops next October. He will also know exactly what to expect next season, and after a summer’s worth of work, Reinbacher will finally get a chance to grow his game following a down year in Switzerland.
There is a chance he won’t be NHL-ready at all next year, but he possesses solid skating, physical strength, confidence, and a sound hockey IQ, all of which could help speed the process to where he could get a recall, perhaps shortly after the 2025 trade deadline.
Joshua Roy will win a full-time role out of camp for the Canadiens
The 150th overall pick in 2021, Joshua Roy has already found a role with the Canadiens prior to sustaining an injury that may keep him out for a while, but the 20-year-old played quite well. Unlike Reinbacher, who won’t see time until he gains plenty of experience in Laval, Roy is the one player on this list who will make the jump from part-time NHLer to full-time in 2024-25.
He more than showed he was NHL-ready despite playing just a half-season with the Rocket, where he recorded 32 points and 13 goals in 40 contests. Since Roy joined the Canadiens earlier this year, he has just nine points and four goals in 23 games, but his level of confidence is unlike any other, and that will go a long way when a player like Roy had to start his career behind the eight-ball.
Next season should still be another growing year for the Canadiens, so having a young player like Roy, who can be effective regardless of which end of the ice he’s playing, will be a luxury. Best yet, he will be a surefire piece to a core of young players who are maturing or who have matured into serviceable, if not solid, NHL talents. Roy is one player you can expect to elevate his game at least another rung when the 2024-25 season commences.
Logan Mailloux has the edge over Reinbacher in the early going
While Reinbacher has solid size to be a pro player in North America, Logan Mailloux looks like a prototype. Currently 6’3, 212 lbs with even more room to keep growing, the former first-round pick is the front-runner among defensemen in the system to make the jump at some point next season.
Like Reinbacher, it’s still more likely we will see Mailloux in the NHL later in 2024-25. But if the Canadiens, and it’s likely, take another year to build, look for Mailloux to see NHL ice at some point following the 2025 trade deadline.
Once he’s in town, expect a hard-hitting blueliner who won’t be afraid to use that size to his advantage early. He’s likely one for the third-pairing during his initial run in the NHL, but Mailloux also has two-way potential, something we have seen with his 39 points and 13 goals in 60 contests so far in 2023-24.
But he can also be erratic with the puck, so Mailloux needs to minimize that drawback to his game next season, ideally before he makes his NHL debut. If he makes clean decisions and gets the call-up later next season, Mailloux could surprise with his scoring potential. At the absolute least, he will start off in a stay-at-home role.
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(Statistics provided by Elite Prospects)