This portion of the Montreal Canadiens Top 25 Under 25 continues to grow. Last year. the top 15 got individual episodes and the players in the 16 to 25 range were paired up. The goal this year was to have a special guest for each individual episode, unfortunately this goal was missed due to a late cancellation. Brock Otten got to appear as a guest on two episodes, and we received a bonus take on Michael Hage with Chris Peters and our Hadi Kalakeche recording episodes.
I would like to extend my full gratitude to all guests for their insights and making time for interviews with a six-hour time difference. A special thank you goes out to our colleagues at Tout sur le Hockey and their reporters Jessika Lemay and Mathieu Paradis who stepped out of their comfort zones for some English discussions to help a colleague, and in some ways a competitor, out.
Here are the podcasts in descending order from when the project began back in late July:
Departures
The Long Shots
The Projects
The Near Misses
with additional support of Thomas Roost for Vinzenz Rohrer, and Coach Jörgen Jönsson of Växjö for Filip Eriksson
#25 Aatos Koivu
with Fredrik Norrena (former U20 coach in TPS Turku
#24 Jakub Dobes
with Marc-Antoine Levis of Eyes On The Prize
#23 Florian Xhekaj
with Brock Otten of McKeen’s Hockey
#22 Sean Farrell
with Scott Matla of Eyes On The Prize
#21 Bogdan Konyushkov
with Sebastian High (of Dobber Prospects at the time of recording, currently of EP Rinkside
#20 Filip Mesar
with Brock Otten
#19 Oliver Kapanen
with Lassi Alanen of EP Rinkside
#18 Justin Barron
with Jessika Lemay of Tout sur le Hockey
#17 Jordan Harris
with Jérôme Bérubé of HockeyProspect.com
#16 Adam Engström
with Max Bohlin (assistant coach of Rögle BK)
#15 Jayden Struble
with Jared Book of Eyes On The Prize
#14 Arber Xhekaj
with Jason Paul of WaveIntel.org
#13 Michael Hage
with Chris Peters of FloHockey
EXTRA: #13 Michael Hage
with Hadi Kalakeche of Eyes On The Prize, and Dobber Prospects at the time of recording, currently of EP Rinkside
#12 Owen Beck
with Lauren Kelly of EP Rinkside
#11 Jacob Fowler
with Ken Brumberger formerly of Eyes On The Prize, and InGoalMagazine
#10 Logan Mailloux
with Ian Boisvert of LockedOn Canadiens
#9 Joshua Roy
with Matt Drake of Bottom Six Minutes fame, and Eyes On The Prize
#8 Alex Newhook
with Mathieu Paradis of Tout sur le Hockey
#7 David Reinbacher
with Thomas Rossi (EHC Kloten fan, and David Reinbacher’s mentor for his apprenticeship)
#6 Kaiden Guhle
with Nathan Ni of Eyes On The Prize
#5 Lane Hutson
with Belle Fraser formerly of Daily Free Press, now with The Salt Lake Tribune
#4 Kirby Dach
with Laura Saba of LockedOn Canadiens
#3 Cole Caufield
with Andrew Berkshire, formerly of Eyes On The Prize and SDPN
#2 Ivan Demidov
with Hadi Kalakeche
#1 Juraj Slafkovský
with Kenzie Lalonde of TSN
2024 Top 25 Under 25 All-Star Team
As always, a big thank you to our listeners for their engagement and feedback. With some departures, (both players and guests) there will be a new lineup next year.
