For the month of May, aside from the NHL Draft lottery, there isn’t much going on. So here at A Winning Habit, I’ve decided to rank the 24 best Canadiens under 24 years old. I opted to rank players that are closest to the NHL, so aside from David Reinbacher, there are no 2023 Draftees.
So, without further ado, let’s go ahead with the 16th best player, in my opinion, Jacob Fowler.
Jacob Fowler is the lone goaltender on the list and, while it can be argued that Cayden Primeau (24) and Jakub Dobes (22) deserve a spot, I felt that the others on the list were more deserving. Yes, there is a real possibility that some players on the list depart form the organization while Primeau and Dobes stay put. But I think that once Fowler arrives, one of the two will be traded away, while the other will eventually serve as Fowler's backup.
Onto Fowler now, though, who skated perfectly along the line of confident and cockiness, when the Canadiens were scouting him and had pre-draft meetings. He had a chip on his shoulder, because he felt that many team made a mistake passing him over. All he did from then on, was prove all his doubters and those who passed him over very wrong.
Fowler joined the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League and decided that he was going to carry the team. Fowler posted a 27-9-3 record, in his rookie season and for the most part, he was the best player on his team. He then went onto the playoffs and posted a 8-1-0 record, including one shutout and a 1.36 goals against average.
His USHL play grabbed the attention of the Canadiens brain trust, and they were confident that they got the right guy to guard their crease for the future. But it's hard to imagine that they had any expectations that he would hop into the NCAA and do what he did this year. While Boston College was loaded with Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, Will Smith and Cutter Gauthier, Fowler was one of, if not the best player for his team on many nights.
Fowler is currently ranked 16th on this list and that is mostly because all the players ahead of him are likely to play in Montreal next season. Or they will start their professional careers down in Laval with the Rocket. Fowler is heading back to BC for his sophomore season and if he puts up another ridiculous campaign like this year, he will definitely put himself in the conversation for one of the top 5-10 under-24 players.