HabsWorld.net --
The Habs announced their list of participants for their upcoming rookie camp on Friday. Many of their top youngsters will be there while they’ve also invited several unaffiliated players. Here’s a rundown of their tryouts.
The full 23-player roster is below. Players in italics are invites that aren’t either Montreal prospects or signed to Laval (Mianscum) or Trois-Rivieres (Nijhoff) for next season.
Forwards
Owen Beck, Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, Emil Heineman, Riley Kidney, Justin Larose, Filip Mesar, Israel Mianscum, Logan Nijhoff, Maxime Pellerin, Charles Savoie, Tyler Thorpe, Luke Tuch, Florian Xhekaj
Defencemen
Emanuelson Charbonneau, Adam Engstrom, Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, Simon Motew, Owen Protz, David Reinbacher
Goaltenders
Quentin Miller, Samuel Richard
Tryouts
Charbonneau: The 20-year-old has taken an odd route to this point. He originally opted to play in the BCHL, allowing him to stay NCAA-eligible after originally committing to the University of Nebraska-Omaha. However, he elected to change course last season and signed with QMJHL Blainville-Boisbriand. Charbonneau is eligible to play in Laval or Trois-Rivieres next season but with only one season under his belt at the major junior level, this might be an invite simply to get a better sense of his potential over being someone they could try to sign right away.
Larose: After two very quiet seasons in Drummondville (QMJHL), Larose had a breakout showing last year. After putting up 39 points in his first two years, he more than doubled it with 80 points in 67 games while averaging more than a point per game in the playoffs. He’s not eligible to play in the pros so if Montreal was to sign the 5’9 winger, he’d have to go back to junior.
Motew: One of only a small group of OHL players who played during the pandemic-cancelled 2020-21 campaign, Motew didn’t quite take the big step forward in his overage year with Kitchener last season. He’s already committed to St. Francis Xavier University for the upcoming year and probably isn’t worth a full AHL contract just yet. This is another invite for them to glean info about for down the road, however, after he has a couple of USports years under his belt.
Pellerin: Last year was a tale of two seasons for the 21-year-old. Pellerin saw his production drop with QMJHL Victoriaville, never a good sign in an overage year. On the other hand, he turned things around in the playoffs, averaging 1.5 points per game, finishing fifth in league scoring. Before the draft, I wondered if they might use a seventh-round pick on him, put him in Laval for a year, and see how things go. They could offer him an AHL deal but he also has a USports commitment already with McGill.
Richard: The goalie is the one player on this list who has dressed for an NHL game as he was an emergency goalie for Toronto in the 2022-23 season. At 6’0, Richard is on the smaller side for a goalie but he’s coming off a season at the University of New Brunswick that saw him win all 16 of his games plus two more in the playoffs. I don’t think that helps him get a contract right now but perhaps he’s an option down the road when his post-secondary days are up.
Savoie: By now, you might have sensed a theme in the invites in that a lot of these are done with their junior careers already. Savoie is another one of those after splitting last season between Quebec and Rimouski in the QMJHL. He’s never been a high-end scorer; his single-season best in five major junior campaigns was ten goals. He’s off to Concordia (USports) barring a contract which doesn’t seem likely.
Rookie camp will begin on Wednesday and will end with a pair of appearances against Toronto’s prospects on September 14th and 15th.
