Montreal Canadiens Prospect Roundup 9

Sweden

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Sebastian Collberg	Elitserien	Frölunda	Last Week	3	0	1	1
			Total	38	6	4	10
	World Juniors	Sweden	Last Week	0	0	0	0
			Total	6	4	2	6
	Allsvenskan	Örebro HK	Last Week	0	0	0	0
			Total	15	6	2	8

Collberg broke a run of no points with his first assist since January 18th. The assist was his first playoff point in his Elitserien career.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Magnus Nygren	Elitserien	Färjestads	Last Week	3	0	1	1
			Total	53	13	20	33

Nygren has had a fantastic season for Färjestads, and he was rewarded last week with the Borje Salming Trophy for the best Swedish defenseman outside the NHL, another feather in the cap to the surprising Habs prospect.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Erik Nystrom	Super Elit U20	Modo U20	Last Week	0	0	0	0
			Total	22	8	16	24
	Allsvenskan	Karlskrona HK	Last Week	2	0	1	1
			Total	25	5	6	12

Since his team didn’t make the playoffs, Nystrom is playing in a qualification round and picked up 1 assist in two games this week.

Czech Republic

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Daniel Pribyl	Czech Extraliga	Sparta Praha	Last Week	4	0	0	0
			Total	46	12	10	22

Pribyl’s team has made the playoffs, but he’s scoreless in the 4 game series thus far.

Canadian Hockey League

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Brady Vail	OHL	Windsor Spitfires	Last Week	4	1	1	2
			Total	68	20	35	55

Vail’s OHL season comes to an end with remarkably similar totals to last year, with 2 fewer goals and 5 more assists. Whether or not there has been growth in his game is a question many would ask from looking at boxcar stats, but considering the role he’s been playing this season, I believe growth is obvious. There’s an outside shot that Vail will join the Bulldogs for the rest of the year.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Olivier Archambault	QMJHL	Drumm. Volitgeurs	Last Week	3	2	0	2
			Total	64	32	34	66

Archambault continues to wrack up goals. He was sat out the last few games of the season to rest a minor injury before the playoffs, but the young forward scored 9 goals in his final 11 games. Will he be rewarded with an entry level deal?

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Charles Hudon	QMJHL	Chicoutimi	Last Week	3	0	3	3
			Total	57	30	41	71

A new career high in goals and points while tying last year’s assist production in fewer games, it would be tough to say that Hudon didn’t have a good year in spite of his injuries. His improvement though, is minimal. The Canadiens will be looking for a big jump and hopefully a healthy year in 13-14, where Hudon will most certainly play a key role for Team Canada in the World Juniors.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Darren Dietz	WHL	Saskatoon Blades	Last Week	4	2	3	5
			Total	73	24	34	58

What an amazing season from Dietz. After a horrendous start where no one was producing and the Blades were hilariously awful, Dietz was worse than -20 on the season. He finished with a +9. Dietz was an impressive goal scorer last season from the blueline, but scored 9 more goals in the same number of games. In all, Dietz improved his production by 14 points over a year ago, and earned himself an entry level contract with the Canadiens that was signed this past weekend while I was in New York City.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Dalton Thrower	WHL	Saskatoon Blades	Last Week	2	1	1	2
			Total	54	5	21	27

A nice end to a season Thrower probably wants to forget. From head injuries to rumours about fighting with coaches and teammates, to halving last season’s production… Thrower now has the opportunity in the playoffs to work past this hellacious season and be the player he can be.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Tim Bozon	WHL	Kamloops Blazers	Last Week	3	3	3	6
			Total	69	36	55	91

Ending off his regular season in style, Bozon has rediscovered his scoring touch in time for the playoffs. The last time a Canadiens prospect hit 90+ points in a CHL season was Brendan Gallagher in 2010-11, and look where he is now. One criticism of Bozon this season was that he looked for the pass too often, and that shows in his point totals. He scored the same number of goals as last season, but racked up 20 more assists in 2 fewer games.

NCAA

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Mac Bennett	NCAA	Michigan	Last Week	3	1	1	2
			Total	30	6	12	18

Bennett is back to his impressive scoring ways, but it’s his defensive play that’s going to need work if he plans on becoming a legitimate prospect in a system that’s bursting with offensively gifted defensemen.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Danny Kristo	NCAA	North Dakota	Last Week	4	4	2	6
			Total	37	24	26	50

Kristo wasn’t too happy with his points streak coming to an end, so he tore some teams up, and hit the 50 point mark for the first time ever in his NCAA career. Kristo’s progression has been very impressive, and with the Canadiens’ injury situation not going away any time soon, it’s looking more and more plausible that he could make the Canadiens roster should UND drop out of the frozen four before expected. Although realistically, even if UND wins, the season being pushed into late April means he could make the team.

Name	League	Team	Timeline	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
Mark MacMillan	NCAA	North Dakota	Last Week	4	0	0	0
			Total	39	13	12	25

Some streakiness towards the end of the season has plagued MacMillan, but hopefully he can sort that out before the playoffs so UND can continue to impress.