It is that time of year again! Every year the EOTP staff gets together and ranks all of the players in the Canadiens organization that are under the age of 25. This year, we’ve even added an extra ballot into the mix.
In addition to participating EOTP staff, we added a ballot for the community, which was determined through a vote last week. As a result, we have a very wide range of opinions that went into determining this year’s list.
Eligibility
The rules of eligibility are very simple; only players who are under the age of 25 when the 2016-17 season gets underway are eligible to be ranked. If a player is slated to turn 25 during the season, they are still eligible, but this would be their last year as a part of the group.
Here is the full list of players from which we made our selections this year. A 2015 rank of 99 denotes a player who was not a part of last year’s vote.
| Player | Pos | D.O.B | 2015 Rank | Current team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADDISON, Jeremiah | LW | 21/10/1996 | 34 | Ottawa (OHL) |
| ANDRIGHETTO, Sven | RW | 21/03/1993 | 8 | Montreal (NHL), St. John’s (AHL) |
| AUDETTE, Daniel | C | 06/05/1996 | 19 | Sherbrooke (QMJHL) |
| BEAULIEU, Nathan | LD | 05/12/1992 | 3 | Montreal (NHL) |
| BITTEN, William | C/RW | 10/07/1998 | 99 | Flint (OHL) |
| BOURQUE, Simon | LD | 12/01/1997 | 30 | Rimouski (QMJHL) |
| BOZON, Tim | LW | 24/03/1994 | 17 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| BRADLEY, Matt | C/LW | 22/01/1997 | 31 | Medicine Hat (WHL) |
| CARR, Daniel | LW | 01/11/1991 | 16 | Montreal (NHL) |
| CRISP, Connor | LW/G | 08/04/1994 | 33 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| DANAULT, Phillip | C | 24/02/1993 | 99 | Montreal (NHL) |
| DE LA ROSE, Jacob | LW/C | 20/05/1995 | 6 | Montreal (NHL), St. John’s (AHL) |
| EVANS, Jake | C/RW | 02/06/1996 | 35 | Notre Dame (HE) |
| FRIBERG, Max | RW | 20/11/1992 | 99 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| FUCALE, Zachary | G | 28/04/1995 | 22 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| GALCHENYUK, Alex | C | 12/02/1994 | 1 | Montreal (NHL) |
| GALLAGHER, Brendan | RW | 06/05/1992 | 2 | Montreal (NHL) |
| GREGOIRE, Jeremy | C | 05/09/1995 | 20 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| HAWKEY, Hayden | G | 01/03/1995 | 36 | Providence College (HE) |
| HENRIKSON, Arvid | RD | 23/02/1998 | 99 | AIK J20 (SuperElit) |
| HUDON, Charles | C/LW | 23/06/1994 | 5 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| JOHNSTON, Ryan | RD | 14/02/1992 | 99 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| JUULSEN, Noah | RD | 02/04/1997 | 18 | Everett (WHL) |
| KOBERSTEIN, Nikolas | RD | 19/01/1996 | 37 | Alaska-Fairbanks (WCHA) |
| LEHKONEN, Artturi | LW | 04/07/1995 | 12 | Montreal (NHL) |
| LERNOUT, Brett | RD | 24/09/1995 | 26 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| LINDGREN, Charlie | G | 18/12/1993 | 99 | Montreal (NHL) St. John’s (AHL) |
| MacMILLAN, Mark | C | 23/01/1992 | 29 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| MATTEAU, Stefan | LW | 23/02/1994 | 99 | Montreal (NHL) |
| McCARRON, Michael | C/RW | 07/03/1995 | 10 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| MCNIVEN, Michael | G | 09/06/1997 | 99 | Owen Sound (OHL) |
| METE, Victor | LD | 06/07/1998 | 99 | London (OHL) |
| PARISI, Tom | LD | 15/07/1993 | 99 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| PEZZETTA, Michael | C | 13/03/1998 | 99 | Sudbury (OHL) |
| REWAY, Martin | LW | 24/01/1995 | 13 | Sparta Prague (CEL) |
| SCHERBAK, Nikita | RW | 30/12/1995 | 4 | St. John’s (AHL) |
| SERGACHEV, Mikhail | RD | 25/06/1998 | 99 | Windsor (OHL) |
| STAUM, Casey | LD | 01/08/1998 | 99 | Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA) |
| SULLIVAN, Colin | RD | 26/03/1993 | 40 | Boston College (HE) |
| THROWER, Dalton | RD | 20/12/1993 | 28 | St. John’s (AHL), Brampton (ECHL) |
| VEJDEMO, Lukas | C | 25/01/1996 | 21 | Djurgardens (SHL) |
Criteria
Our rankings are based on two factors; value and potential. The endeavour is to strike a balance between the two, so as to give every player a fair shake. Some players are already in the NHL, but the sheer potential of some who are not can push them ahead of a player who has already seen time in the Tricolore.
When we say value, we do not mean trade value. We are ranking these players solely in terms of their importance to the Montreal Canadiens. They may not always be a part of the organization, but for the purpose of this exercise their trade value is irrelevant.
Last year’s results
2015 was the second year of Alex Galchenyuk’s reign as our number one player under the age of 25. In fact, Galchenyuk has been in the top-three on our list since he was drafted – since before he even played a game for the Canadiens. Will this trend continue?
Brendan Gallagher was hot on his heels last year, and he figures to challenge once again for that number one spot. Here is how the voting went last year
| Rank | Player | 2016 Eligible? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Galchenyuk | Yes |
| 2 | Brendan Gallagher | Yes |
| 3 | Nathan Beaulieu | Yes |
| 4 | Nikita Scherbak | Yes |
| 5 | Charles Hudon | Yes |
| 6 | Jacob de la Rose | Yes |
| 7 | Zack Kassian | No |
| 8 | Sven Andrighetto | Yes |
| 9 | Jarred Tinordi | No |
| 10 | Michael McCarron | Yes |
| 11 | Michael Bournival | No |
| 12 | Artturi Lehkonen | Yes |
| 13 | Martin Reway | Yes |
| 14 | Christian Thomas | No |
| 15 | Devante Smith-Pelly | No |
| 16 | Daniel Carr | Yes |
| 17 | Tim Bozon | Yes |
| 18 | Noah Juulsen | Yes |
| 19 | Daniel Audette | Yes |
| 20 | Jeremy Gregoire | Yes |
| 21 | Lukas Vejdemo | Yes |
| 22 | Zachary Fucale | Yes |
| 23 | Gabriel Dumont | No |
| 24 | Darren Dietz | No |
| 25 | Mac Bennett | No |
As you can see, some of these players are no longer eligible, and we will cover those graduates and departed in a separate article. Following that we’ll get into the rankings and who finished where.
We will unveil the results in ascending order, starting with number 25 on Monday morning. Stay tuned, as things tend to go pretty fast once we get started!
