On Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had returned Owen Protz to the Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL. Protz had been in Montreal since joining the prospects for rookie camp.
Les Canadiens ont cédé le défenseur Owen Protz aux Bulldogs de Brantford, dans la Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 24, 2025
The Canadiens have assigned defenseman Owen Protz to the Brantford Bulldogs in the Ontario Hockey League.
He didn’t get into any NHL pre-season games, but he did have the experience of playing in the Prospect Showdown and felt the atmosphere of two pre-season games at the Bell Centre. He will now join the team in Brantford for his third OHL season. The club is off to a 1-0-1 start in the very early going of the 2025-26 campaign.
Last year, Protz had 32 points for the team in 67 games, but his biggest contribution is on defence where he plays a shutdown brand of hockey. We got a glimpse of that in the prospect tournament with several crushing hits from the 6’2″ blue-liner.
Protz will be hoping of join Team Canada’s camp ahead of the World Juniors after participating in the summer showcase this year. He is a long shot to make the team, but he provides an element that the WJC squad rarely has on its roster. He should join the Laval Rocket of the AHL once his season concludes as he makes the transition to professional hockey.
