Welcome back to Catching The Torch, where we keep up with the Montreal Canadiens’ CHL prospects and how their development is progressing week by week.
After reviewing Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler’s progress last week in our complementary segment Across The Border for Habs prospects playing in the United States, it’s time to head back north once more and focus on two forwards developing in the OHL who haven’t truly gotten the appreciation they deserve.
We’ll start off with a prospect who was written off way too early by a majority of the fanbase in Filip Mešár, and finish up with a breakdown of Cedrick Guindon’s offensive-zone tweaks that could very well help him generate points at the NHL level. The two faced off recently in a 4-1 Owen Sound win over Kitchener, and both prospects scored in that game while showing why they’re such interesting case studies.
Filip Mešár
From confusion to clarity
After a draft-plus-one campaign in which Mešár struggled to find his footing in a new league, a lot of Habs fans were quick to throw around the “bust” label. This was aided by the fact that the prospect drafted right after him, Jiri Kulich, tore up the AHL and has now earned himself an NHL call-up.
Beyond the fact that Kulich’s development path has no bearing on Mešár’s, there is a world of context to take into account.
First and foremost, the Kitchener Rangers’ woes last season made it extremely difficult to gauge how much of Mešár’s struggles were a result of his own shortcomings. A player going from a pro league overseas to a Junior league in North America has a lot to adapt to. From the pace of play, to the lack of space, to the off-puck tactics, everything changes.
A stable environment with stable linemates, lots of puck touches, and a mutual trust between organization and player are almost requirements. Mešár did not have any of that. Instead, he got a team that went through a coaching change, struggled to maintain possession, and could not provide him with linemate stability.
This season, it’s night and day.
After being sent down for another year of OHL development, Mešár lost no time at all showing he is too good for this level. Now that he has stable top-line minutes, a supporting cast he can get used to, and lots and lots of puck touches, he is settling into his element and racking up points at a team-leading pace, with 10 goals and 25 points in 13 games played since his return to the OHL. He has built impressive chemistry with Carson Rehkopf and Hunter Brzustewicz, who both lead the OHL in points among forwards and defencemen respectively.
More importantly, he has started trusting his shot a lot more than he used to.
Now a legitimate shooting threat from the half-wall on the power play, Mešár has also made himself more of a shooter off the rush at 5 on 5. He still prefers shooting off the stickhandle rather than loading his release in his hip pocket, which would probably be the preferable release as he climbs the ranks, but he can’t get the hang of it if he isn’t shooting, which he is now doing a lot more than he did previously.
Mešár has often been misclassified as an offensive winger. Offence is certainly part of his skill set — particularly playmaking and transitions — but Mešár is above all a mature thinker of the game. He processes his surroundings well, intervenes in passing lanes with both pace and control, and manages the puck intelligently, to go along with a high-end motor and solid instincts off the puck. This skill set fits the mould of a pacey, skilled two-way centre, and that’s where I believe Mešár’s game is heading.
As he continues to stack new tools upon his existing foundation of skills, get more comfortable shooting off the catch, and incorporate physicality and forechecking into his skill set as he has so far this year, it’ll only be a matter of time before he becomes an impactful NHLer.
Cedrick Guindon
Play for the job you want, not the job you have
At first glance, it doesn’t really look like Guindon has improved much since last year. His point totals haven’t changed as much since his 2022-23 campaign, in which he put up 69 points in 68 games.
However, the way Guindon is putting up points this season, especially goals, is wildly different. His 13 goals and 25 points in 24 games this year hide a drastic change in play style that fits the NHL a lot more than his sequences from last season.
I mentioned in the Players of the Month article for October, in which he earned the honours for both his consistency and progress: Guindon is playing one- or two- touch hockey — pro-style hockey.
Where Guindon would previously receive a pass at the blue line and hold onto it for three or more seconds before deciding on a play, he has now shortened his possession sequences. He passes and goes, moves into space off the puck, and when he gets it back again, he fires or passes right off the catch. This type of hockey suits the job he wants, not the one he has.
It would be much easier and more immediately rewarding for Guindon to play the way he did last year. The OHL allows for these long possession sequences to not only go unpunished, but end up in a point on the scoresheet. However, he would have hit a wall once he got to the AHL if he kept this up.
We’ve seen it with Joshua Roy: what works in the pro leagues is puck management, not puck possession. Roy had taken the steps in his post-draft QMJHL seasons to play off the pass, move into space, and act as a connector or finisher rather than hold onto pucks for longer periods of time in the offensive zone. As a result, he hit the ground running in Laval.
On top of this adjustment in his the offensive zone approach, Guindon has continued to apply his intelligence in the defensive zone, has slightly improved his skating to be more quick and agile on tight turns, and has learned to wriggle his way out of trouble. His off-puck movement has become more intricate as well, funnelling downhill and hitting open pockets at the net-front with the right timing.
If his physical play comes along a step or two (which usually only happens with prospects once they hit the pro level), we could see Guindon develop into a solid bottom-six contributor, who can slot in higher up in the lineup when needed.
Thanks for reading — follow me on Twitter @HadiK_Scouting for more prospects-related content, and to keep up with the rest of my work!
