Introduction
The Montreal Canadiens have given their AHL affiliate a considerable makeover this off-season. A number of players, including a few fixtures of this series, have been shipped out in one-for-trades. One of the departures was Sean Farrell, traded on July 27 to the Anaheim Ducks. In his place comes Sasha Pastujov, one draft class younger than Farrell. Anaheim’s scouts has witnessed an impressive season with the U.S. National Team Development Program in which Pastujov finished with the most goals and assists, clearing his next closest teammate by 16 points, and selected him among the first picks of the third round in 2021.
Rather than go the NCAA route like most of the players who graduate through the NTDP, he moved to the Ontario Hockey League the next season, once more topping both statistical categories with 76 points in 65 games for the Guelph Storm. The next season he was traded to the Sarnia Sting, posted a team best 1.72 points per game over the rest of the season, then led the club in scoring in the playoffs with 19 points in 16 games.
His first season of pro hockey in the AHL proved a bit more of a challenge and as a result he began the 2024-25 campaign in the ECHL. The third tier of North American hockey was clearly a level below his ability and he rejoined the San Diego Gulls to score over a point per game over the remainder of the season. Last year he returned to the familiar situation of pacing his team in offence with 57 points in 71 games. That was true in the playoffs as well as his deflected goal from the slot was the only one San Diego managed in its best-of-three series versus the eventual Western Conference finalist Colorado Eagles.
That point total would have ranked third on the Laval Rocket, four points up on Farrell’s total, with the difference being four additional goals. The quality of the teams was very different, with the Rocket finishing at 90 points to win the North Division title and San Diego requiring the regulation-wins tiebreaker to squeak into the post-season as the seventh seed in the Pacific. If Laval is at the same level it was the past two seasons, it will be a stronger team Pastujov plays on this year, and Rocket general manager John Sedgwick will hope his moves have improved it a step further.
Voting
Four of the individual panellists had Pastujov inside the Top 25, and four placed him outside. Even with those different opinions, he has a much smaller range, 14, than the two players profiled so far in the official countdown.
Pastujov was acquired after the ballots had been collected. The list of 55 players we all ranked included Sean Farrell instead. Farrell finished with an average ranking of 27.610 among community respondents, placing him 26th in the EOTP order, and his nine-panellist average was 26.667, a fraction more than Pastujov’s average of 26.375. Their placements would have been the same at the 23rd spot in the rankings. In that sense, this is, overall, regarded as a direct swap of players of equal value.
History of #23
| Year | #23 |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Sasha Pastujov |
| 2025 | Bogdan Konyushkov |
| 2024 | Florian Xhekaj |
| 2023 | Jacob Fowler |
| 2022 | Frederik Dichow |
| 2021 | Brett Stapley |
| 2020 | Otto Leskinen |
| 2019 | Rhett Pitlick |
| 2018 | Michael McCarron |
| 2017 | Lukas Vejdemo |
| 2016 | Zachary Fucale |
| 2015 | Gabriel Dumont |
| 2014 | Darren Dietz |
| 2013 | Dalton Thrower |
| 2012 | Greg Pateryn |
| 2011 | Alain Berger |
| 2010 | Andreas Engqvist |
Strengths
Leading up to his draft, his shot was his main asset. His stat line with the USNTDP in 2020-21, with 30 goals and five more assists, was evidence of him being more of a finisher than a playmaker, and the ratio was about the same in the OHL the next season. He used to focus solely on slipping into some open ice unnoticed to get into a shooting position, just like Cole Caufield did in his time with the development program, and then his quick hands could end the play with an accurate shot. That remains the way he scores the majority of his goals even at the AHL level.
As the years have gone on, he’s become more of a playmaker to bring his teammates into the offence more. He has expanded his vision beyond just looking for a piece of uncovered net to shoot at, and is better at finding a friendly stick in better position to score.
His hand skills have been better than most opponents he’s faced to this point, and he has been good at gaining the offensive zone as a result. He needs very little space to pull the puck from one side of his body to the other, and has proven difficult to defend. He uses those same skills to make quick dekes when he gets the puck near the net, fooling goaltenders to get them down and out for an easy goal.
Weaknesses
His skating is merely passable, which is always a tough obstacle for an offensive player to overcome. Once he’s up to his top speed, his hands can take over and make up for the overall lack of pace, but he doesn’t have the separation gear to create the space he thrives in on his own.
San Diego’s strategy to create this space was to play with a style heavily reliant on stretch passes. That was great for Pastujov’s offence when it worked, but not so good for the team in general considering its seventh-place finish and a -4 goal differential in the regular season, and quick playoff exit after getting shellacked by an aggregate score of 9-1 in the playoffs. That style allowed him to maintain the bad habit of flying up the ice at any expected change in possession rather than sticking around to aid in a more controlled transition up the ice. Those tactics can work occasionally — we saw both 2026 Stanley Cup finalists use a lob pass to centre ice to great effect — but aren’t ideal as the main transition strategy.
The biggest issue with that in Pastujov’s case is that he hasn’t had to learn how to shield off a defender to move the puck, battling through contact to keep the play going. He is taller than Farrell, listed at 6’0″ versus Farrell’s 5’10”, but though Pastujov is listed at 183 pounds, his build looks very slight when compared to his on-ice teammates.
Projection
If he wants to take the final step and advance from the AHL to the NHL, he will need to get bigger to play a game with closer contact. There aren’t many defencemen at the top level who get danced by a quick deke, and almost all of them will be faster than he is. He will need to improve his lower-body strength to get himself out of physical situations, at least enough to free his stick to make another play, and that’s something the player he was traded for wasn’t able to develop in his time in the organization.
There is plenty of room for him to add mass to his frame, but it’s something he should have been working on for several years now. It’s too late to do that ahead of the 2026-27 season, so that would have to be something the development staff encourages him to do next summer.
It would be great to see how far his offensive talents could take him if he does work on increasing his strength and maybe adding a bit more skating ability as well in the Canadiens organization. To have a chance to benefit from any such improvements the staff is able to inspire, they will have to wait until next season. For that reason, a multi-year contract might be the best option for the current restricted free agent rather than the one-year option Farrell agreed to in Anaheim the day after being traded.
At his current ability, Pastujov will be a top offensive performer for the Laval Rocket this season, possibly even maintaining his career trend of leading his team in scoring. A hot streak could put him on the radar for an NHL recall if the Canadiens have need of an offensive player at any point. This season, that would probably only be a temporary stint with the big club, but still a step beyond what he was able to achieve with the Ducks. Ideally new Rocket head coach Daniel Jacob will put him in more challenging situations to work on things Anaheim didn’t force him to, and at this time a year from now, assuming he’s still in the organization, we have a more rounded prospect to discuss as a potential bottom-six scoring option for Montreal.
