Top 5 forward prospects for Canadiens fans to know about in the 2024 NHL Draft

Cayden Lindstrom, F/Medicine Hat

Cayden Lindstrom’s size should impress you even more than his productivity. Standing 6’4 and clocking in at 216 lbs, the 18-year-old could fare as a power forward when he eventually reaches the big league, but he’s someone who could use another season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, even if his productivity was sensational this season. 

Not that he has much of a choice, as Lindstrom couldn’t see AHL ice until he’s 20, but regardless, Lindstrom’s still in the ideal situation where he can end up dominating the WHL for an entire year following a campaign in which he scored 27 goals and 46 points in 32 regular games. 

Since he played in just 32 regular season contests this season, his 46 points is no pedestrian increase from the 42 he logged in 61 matchups in 2022-23. Broken down, his productivity averaged just 0.688 points per game, while it skyrocketed this past season to 1.43 per, more than double the production in a one-year span. 

If we adjust that to the 64 regular season games we saw in 2022-23, it would equal 92 points and 54 goals. Add that productivity with his size, and you should be excited if general manager Kent Hughes snagged Lindstrom this summer.