Habs News: Nick Suzuki Top Prospect, Michel Therrien Returns in Philly, Montreal Canadiens Late-Round Draft Picks, Trevor Timmins Success
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — On September 10th, hours before the Canadiens golf tournament that launched the 2018-19 season, Max Pacioretty was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. Based on how the previous season played out and the rumblings that we were hearing, it was just a matter of time before a trade was concluded. Both sides had shown signs that it was time to move on.
Pacioretty had shown in his time in Montreal that he can be an elite goal scorer. This past season, Pacioretty didn’t reach the 30-goal mark for a second consecutive year, which he’s reached five times during his NHL career. In his 66 games played this season, he scored 22 goals, an improvement of five goals compared to the 2017-18 season. In Vegas’ playoff run, Pacioretty put up 11 points on the board in seven games on a line with Paul Statsny and Mark Stone. The Canadiens were never able to provide him such quality linemates.
Suzuki Key Acquisition
The Canadiens acquired Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki in return for their captain. Tatar had a great first season in Montreal, but he wasn’t the key component of the trade. “One point that was very important for us was to get a young prospect, what we call an ‘A’ prospect,” Marc Bergevin said at the time of the trade. “So that was a key that was very important to the organization and that’s what we were able to get in Suzuki.”
After being cut in the camp by the Canadiens, Suzuki went to the Ontario Hockey League where he obtained 45 points in 30 games in Owen Sound, before being traded to Guelph where he added 49 points in 29 games. Suzuki was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs on Sunday, as he led his team to win the OHL Championship and a Memorial Cup appearance with his 42 points in 24 games.
In the 2018-19 OHL coaches poll, Suzuki’s name finished in the top 3 of the Western Conference in several categories. He finished first as the smartest player, second for best shot, and third best stickhandler.
Canadiens fans are excited and the discussion has begun whether Suzuki should begin next season in Montreal. I think it’s a premature discussion, that will need to be revisited once we see the list players invited to camp in September, and how Suzuki would potentially fit in the lineup.
As a general rule, I would prefer that a prospect in his first professional season get a lot of ice time. That’s something that he will unlikely get next season on Claude Julien‘s team, therefore Laval is likely his destination in October. Joel Bouchard was with Bergevin in Ottawa to watch Suzuki play in the first game of the final against the 67s.
Therrien Returns Behind The Bench
Last week, the Flyers announced that Michel Therrien would be part of Alain Vigneault‘s coaching staff and that he would be responsible for the forwards and the power play. Predictably, Canadiens fans mocked the decision. I can’t remember the last time that the Montreal fan base criticized a coach the way they did with Therrien. I was in the minority who thinks that Therrien did a respectable job in Montreal considering the players that he had on his roster.
That being said, I wasn’t expecting Therrien to get another job behind the bench in the NHL. I’m even more surprised that he accepted the role of assistant coach. A knock on Therrien was always his communication with his players, which is the reason he had Gerard Gallant and Kirk Muller as assistants to compensate in that category. The rest of Philadelphia’s coaching staff will need to tackle this responsibility.
Therrien and Vigneault have known each other since the days that they were both coaching in the QMJHL. While coaching the Canadiens, Vigneault had a lot to do with the hiring of Therrien to coach the AHL affiliate. Ironically, Therrien replaced Vigneault as coach of the Canadiens 20 games into the 2000-01 season.
It was over dinner this winter that Vigneault told Therrien that he would want him as part of his coaching staff if he got another shot behind the bench in the NHL. Once Vigneault was hired by Philadelphia, it was a formality before Therrien would join the organization as well.
In an interview on 91.9FM Sports last week, Therrien mentioned that he was in the final stages of signing a deal to coach in the KHL when Vigneault told him that he was hired in Philadelphia as head coach. He was in the process of organizing a trip to Russia to meet in person with the owners of the team prior to signing his contract. His relationship with Vigneault made it an easy decision for him to stay in North America.
Late-Round Draft Picks
Over the last couple of years, Trevor Timmins has received criticism from a portion of the fans and media over the quality of the players drafted by the organization since he became in charge of drafting in 2003.
In their 2019 Draft Preview edition, The Hockey News calculated the number of drafted players in the third round or later since 2000 that played 100+ games in the NHL. The results for the Canadiens is that 14 of the 102 players drafted reached that mark. The 13.7% success rate ranks them 11th in the NHL. The Hockey News also ranked the organizations prospects as the 10th best in the league.
Those are respectable numbers for Timmins and his staff.
By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2019 Rocket Sports
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