Player of the Week: Daniel Audette
Audette finished his regular season campaign with an offensive flourish for the Sherbrooke Phoenix. He scored two goals and an assist in his first game, a 6-3 win over the Val d’Or Foreurs.
He scored a goal and assist in his final game, a 7-3 loss to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Audette finished the season with 29 goals and 44 assists in 60 games, which also made him the scoring leader for Sherbrooke. His goals-per-game average improved to 0.48 versus the 0.31 he had in his draft year.
| GP | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
The Juniors Report
The Canadiens currently feature prospects playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the Western Hockey League (WHL), the USHL (United States Hockey League) and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). These leagues can be considered the primary conduit towards professional hockey in North America.
Here’s how the players in the aforementioned leagues performed last week:
| Player | League | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| Daniel Audette (C) | QMJHL | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Jeremy Grégoire (RW) | QMJHL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Michael McCarron (RW) | OHL | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Tim Bozon (LW) | WHL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Brett Lernout (D) | WHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nikita Scherbak (RW) | WHL | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Nikolas Koberstein (D) | USHL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Josiah Didier (D) | NCAA | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Jake Evans (C) | NCAA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark MacMillan (C) | NCAA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Goalie | League | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | Save % | SO |
| Zach Fucale | QMJHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.00 | .765 | 0 |
Jeremy Grégoire: Gregoire played what were likely his last two regular season games in the QMJHL this past week with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He went without a point in his first game, a 3-1 loss to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. He marked a goal and an assist in a rematch versus Chicoutimi, which saw a similar result in a 3-2 loss. He finished the regular season with 20 goals and 21 assists in 32 games, which ranked him 4th in scoring on his team and 1st in Points Per Game Average at 1.28.
Michael McCarron: McCarron closed out his likely final season in the OHL with a point-per-game week for the Oshawa Generals. He marked two assists in his first game, a 4-3 shootout loss to the Belleville Bulls. He went without a point in his next game, a 2-1 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs. He ended the week collecting an assist in a 3-1 win in a rematch versus Belleville. McCarron’s 28 goals and 40 assists in 56 games this year doubled his previous season’s totals in both goals and assists while playing ten fewer games than in the 2013-14 season.
Tim Bozon: Bozon’s final WHL regular season came to a close this past week as the Kootenay Ice sniper added . He opened the week scoring a goal in a 6-3 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He added another goal in his next game, a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Hitmen. His final game saw him pick up an assist in a rematch versus Calgary, which saw a similar result in a 3-2 loss to Calgary. Bozon was the leading goal scorer this past season for Kootenay with 35 on his season, which also saw him reach the career benchmark of 140 goals in the WHL.
Brett Lernout: Lernout finished out the regular season with the Swift Current Broncos on a quiet note. He went scoreless in his final three games of the season, a 6-2 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors, a 5-3 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes and a 6-2 loss in a rematch versus Lethbridge. He finished the season with 14 goals and 28 assists, a 20-point improvement on his previous season while also taking 35 fewer penalty minutes. His 42 points also made him the defensive scoring leader for Swift Current for the season.
Nikita Scherbak: It was a short but productive week for the Everett Silvertips star, who’s likely played his last regular season game in the WHL. He picked up two assists in his first game, a 4-3 win over Victoria Royals. He added an assist in his final game, a rematch versus Victoria that resulted in a 4-3 shootout loss. Scherbak finishes the WHL regular season as the leading scorer on Everett with 27 goals and 55 assists, where he was also the only scorer to rate over a point-per-game at 1.26, his closest competitor stood at 0.97. he was also the 16th overall scorer in the WHL.
Nikolas Koberstein: Koberstein scored a goal in his only game of the week, a 2-1 win over Team USA Juniors. His USHL season remains in what could be categorized as a bust year, with just 11 points in 54 games this year.
Josiah Didier: It was a rare burst of offence for Didier this past weekend with the University of Denver. He collected an assist in his first game, a 6-3 loss to Miami University that would see Denver relegated to playing for third place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. He scored a goal in a 5-1 win over the University of North Dakota, helping to secure the 3rd-place finish for Denver. Didier has three goals and 11 points in 38 games this year.
Jake Evans: Evans did not play this week after the University of Notre Dame was eliminated from the Hockey East playoffs. It is yet to be determined if Notre Dame can gain admittance to the National Tournament. Evans has seven goals and ten assists in 41 games this season, these numbers heavily suffered from a disappointing second half where he had 5 points in his final 22 games.
Mark MacMillan: MacMillan has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to an undisclosed lower-body injury that required surgery. He finished the season leading his team in goals with 16 and was named First All-Conference for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, along with being named the Best Defensive Forward in the Conference.
Hayden Hawkey: Hawkey has unfortunately been ruled out for the remainder of the 2014-15 season due to suffering tears in his Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Medial Collateral Ligament on November 29.
Zach Fucale: The struggles of Fucale’s season in the QMJHL do not seem to be relenting. In his only start of the week, he allowed 4 goals on 17 shots over two periods versus Rimouski Oceanic before being pulled for the third period. His status as a starting goalie with the Quebec Remparts is very questionable at this point and he may start the QMJHL playoffs on the bench. Fucale is 15th in the QMJHL in save percentage among starting goalies. His future is arguably the most in doubt of any notable junior prospect for the Canadiens.
The European report:
The SHL is the top professional men’s league in Sweden and is at a comparable level to the AHL. Strong play here can often give indications that the player is moving towards being capable of playing in the NHL.
The Extraliga is the top professional men’s league in the Czech Republic. While it is not at the level of the SHL, it is still a competitive pro league where solid production would give credence to a player’s NHL potential.
Here’s how the European prospects performed last week:
| Player | League | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| Artturi Lehkonen (LW/RW) | SHL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Joonas Nättinen (C/RW) | SHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Réway (C/LW) | Extraliga | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Artturi Lehkonen: The scoring issues for Lehkonen do not seem to be relenting as he plays his first SHL playoff campaign with Frolunda HC. He marked an assist in his first game, a 3-1 loss to Lulea HF. He would scoreless in his next three contests, a 3-2 loss to Lulea HF, a 3-2 overtime win over Lulea and a 1-0 overtime win over Lulea. Frolunda is currently tied 3-3 in their series with Lulea.
Joonas Nättinen: It was a flat offensive week for Nattinen, who is currently playing with MODO Hockey to avoid relegation from the Swedish Hockey League to the secondary Allsvenskan league. He went without a point a 3-0 win over HC Vita Hasten, a 2-0 win over Vita Hasten and a 4-1 win over Vita Hasten. MODO Hockey currently leads the series 3-0.
Martin Réway: In his only game of the week with HC Sparta Praha, Reway collected an assist in a 4-3 win over HK Hradec Kralove. The win gave his team the 4-0 series sweep allowing them to advance to the second round of the Extraliga Playoffs. Reway has scored a goal and four assists in four playoff games so far.
Year to date statistics
| Player | League | GP | G | A | P | PIM |
| Daniel Audette (C) | QMJHL | 58 | 29 | 44 | 73 | 64 |
| Jeremy Grégoire (RW) | QMJHL | 32 | 20 | 21 | 41 | 59 |
| Michael McCarron (RW) | OHL | 56 | 28 | 40 | 68 | 128 |
| Tim Bozon (LW) | WHL | 57 | 35 | 28 | 63 | 19 |
| Brett Lernout (D) | WHL | 72 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 68 |
| Nikita Scherbak (RW) | WHL | 65 | 27 | 55 | 82 | 60 |
| Nikolas Koberstein (D) | USHL | 54 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 126 |
| Josiah Didier (D) | NCAA | 38 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 58 |
| Jake Evans (C) | NCAA | 41 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 22 |
| Mark MacMillan (C) | NCAA | 29 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 27 |
| Artturi Lehkonen (LW/RW) | SHL | 45 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 10 |
| Joonas Nättinen (C/RW) | SHL | 55 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 36 |
| Martin Réway (C/LW) | Extraliga | 34 | 9 | 28 | 37 | 54 |
| Goalie | League | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | Save% | SO |
| Zachary Fucale | QMJHL | 41 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 3.21 | .885 | 3 |
| Hayden Hawkey | USHL | 15 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2.99 | .896 | 1 |
