The second day of the Montreal Canadiens’ development camp began in Brossard on Wednesday, with dozens of fans in attendance to watch the exciting prospects. The full list of invited players can be found here.
There were six forwards working with the four goaltenders. Filip Eriksson, Michael Hage, Sam Harris, Tyler Thorpe, Israel Mianscum, and Jack Gorton were all present, split into two groups, each working with a pair of goaltenders.
The goaltenders worked on a lot of lateral movement drills, testing reactions and positioning, and I thought they were all solid. Hage was the only forward who was consistently scoring, and I thought the goaltenders got the better of the forwards overall; none stood out as shaky to me. I was impressed with Arseni Radkov’s positioning, and he seemed to be the most aware goaltender.
Practice for the goaltenders ended at 10:40, and forward and defence drills started at 11:00.
The forwards started with one-on-one corner battles. L.J. Mooney was the biggest standout for me here, followed by Hage, Hayden Paupanekis, and Eriksson. All of these players combined skill with serious physical effort and ended up being head and shoulders above the rest.
Aatos Koivu struggled against Eriksson in the on-on-one drill, and Matthew Wang was frustrated by Hage’s overwhelming presence. As the drill continued, Mooney and Hage started to dominate all their matchups, separating themselves from the rest. Coaches absolutely noticed as they started pairing the two together near the end of the drill.
While one group worked on corner battles, the other worked on defending breakouts from the half-wall as F1. The two groups interchanged forwards frequently. I thought L.J. Mooney was the most noticeable player in drill two as well. He’s an incredibly intense player who practices like he plays. His tenacity while attacking forwards caused countless turnovers, and offensively, his skating and creativity left him a step above the rest. Hage and Wang were also noticeable in this drill.
The next exercise was a three-on-two puck-retrieval simulation. Coaches brought together all the players instead of operating with two groups. The usual suspects stood out here, with Mooney and Hage putting on a good show, but I thought Sam Harris made a couple of really great plays. Wang also showed some good decision-making and some solid finishing in this drill. I thought Koivu’s timing looked a little off with more moving parts involved. Multiple coaches came over to chat with him during the drill, presumably regarding his off-puck positioning.
As the drill progressed, it was impossible not to notice how incredibly dangerous Mooney was with the puck. It’s like his vision expands, and everything slows for him when it’s on his stick. He wasn’t amazing offensively while off the puck during this drill, but he scored twice, and when the puck was on his stick he was the standout forward.
The next drill was similar but with a different point of breakout. Once again, coaches wanted to see how players battled along the boards and create offence through the slot. I thought Paupanekis had a solid drill, and this was probably Koivu’s best as well. Mooney had another fantastic sequence. His skating is impossible not to notice, and so is his motor.
The final drill was a fairly simple two-on-two stemming from behind the net. The motion seemed to throw a couple of players off, but I thought Mooney showed good understanding and execution. When Mooney and Hage are split up, each is the best skater in his group.
Final Takeaways
This is probably the camp that Habs fans have been the least interested in in the last few years, but I still think there are multiple players that fans should be excited about. I didn’t watch a whole lot of the defensemen; I only tuned in to the final 10 minutes as they went longer than the forwards. Even with a limited sample size, my standouts were Bogdan Konyushkov and Owen Protz for very different reasons. I thought Konyushkov looked extremely mobile, and I thought Protz was extremely poised.
As for the forwards, Mooney was certainly the biggest standout, followed by Hage. They will be on opposing teams for Thursday’s scrimmage, and it should be an exciting matchup. Wang also impressed me on Wednesday. His size was noticeable, and his effort level was good. I also thought that Israel Mianscum was a nice blend of size and speed. It’s interesting that, in my opinion, two of the best forwards on the ice were undrafted invitees.
Finally, Koivu intrigued me. His skating is supremely smooth, and his hands are soft, but his timing was certainly a second off (which is not uncommon while adjusting to North American ice). You can see the potential, even amidst some blunders. Regardless, it’s a treat to see a “Koivu” wearing the bleu-blanc-rouge.
The prospects will face off in a scrimmage at 11:00 AM ET on Thursday at Complexe Sportif CN, followed by a media availability at 1:00 PM ET.
