Player and prospect development is a fascinating path to follow in the NHL. The margins for being a success story or a bust are almost razor thin on either side. At the same time, some people (myself included) miss the forest for the trees in this case, namely that all development success stories don’t look the same at the end of the day.
The Canadiens spent a long time in a form of development hell. Rushing prospects into the NHL to sink or swim while not really developing anyone of note at the minor league levels. In recent years we’ve begun to see a shift as the club has invested far more into its AHL team and the franchise is seeing those results. Jake Evans has gone from one of the final four picks in his draft class to a dependable NHL regular in the last two seasons. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard went from over-ager, to an AHL deal, to being penciled in for a top-six role in Montreal next year.
Also in this mix is Michael Pezzetta, who signed a two-year contract extension last week with the Canadiens after setting a new career high in goals, assists, and points last year. Pezzetta should be considered a development success even if that success isn’t anything resembling superstardom. When you look back at Pezzetta’s time in junior and his entry-level contract years with the Laval Rocket, there didn’t seem to be much of anything that signalled there was a higher level for him.
Yet, Pezzetta signed a pair of one-year extensions, one under Marc Bergevin and another from Kent Hughes before his most recent deal. It was the first one-year extension that seemed to have sparked something in the feisty forward as the Canadiens were coming off their Stanley Cup Final appearance. He was all over the ice during the preseason, and even when he was sent down to Laval to start the year he was a tremendous on-ice leader physically and on the scoresheet.
That performance earned him his first NHL call up, that was infamously overshadowed by Cole Caufield being sent down the AHL thanks to Dominique Ducharme’s inept coaching. Yet Pezzetta, playing primarily in a fourth-line checking role, kept his lineup spot. He skated hard, fought literally all comers, and played every single game like it might be his last in the NHL. That sort of thing endears a player not only to his teammates, but the new front office who gave him another year to prove his worth.
Again, with plenty of new bodies entering the fray and a season that was anything but easy, Pezzetta did what he does best. He played hard, fought harder, and scored some timely goals to help stabilize a fourth line that was a constant rotating cast of characters. He turned himself into far more than a guy who fights and throws hits, he became a solid everyday NHL player.
When you go back and look at Pezzetta’s OHL stats and his first years in the AHL, it seemed like a long shot that he would ever make the NHL. Fast forward a few years and here he is, set to anchor the Canadiens fourth line once again. He’s not a 30-goal scorer or a shutdown defender by any means, but based on where he started, Pezzetta becoming an everyday NHL player is a win for the Canadiens development system.
It isn’t fair to treat all prospects, new and old, on the same scale. For a player like Pezzetta his perseverance and willingness to buy into his role allowed him to reach a goal that seemed far out of reach. It’s a small victory, but a victory for the Canadiens and for Michael Pezzetta nonetheless.
