Loose puck | Team of absent rookies would be formidable

With 39 draft picks in the four most recent drafts, including six first-round picks, four second-round picks and six third-round picks, the Canadiens will field a quality lineup in the two-game rookie challenge this weekend at the Bell Centre, featuring Hutson, Reinbacher, Mailloux, Beck and company.

Their opponents, the Toronto Maple Leafs, by comparison, benefited from only 19 choices, half as many, including only 2 in the first round, out of 28^e and 31^e ranks, only 2 second-round picks and 1 third-round pick: 6 against 16…

Toronto will be led by 19-year-old Easton Cowan, 28^e 2023 pick, 96 points in 54 games in London of the Ontario Junior League, and Fraser Minten, a 2022 second-round pick, who has been pretty average in the junior ranks after starting the season with the Leafs last year.

On defense, their 2024 first-round pick, defenseman Ben Danford, is pretty strong but limited offensively, as evidenced by just one goal in 64 games in junior last year. On the other hand, they will round out their roster with nine players 22 or older, including two 24-year-olds!

They will also count on their giant goalie Dennis Hildeby, 23, who already has two years of pro experience under his belt, including an excellent season in the American League last year. Montreal has only one player 23 or older, a certain Logan Nijhoff, who has been tossed between the American League and the ECHL for three years.

The Canadiens have such a deep pool of prospects that they could put together a very competitive team with their missing rookies. This team could compete not only with the Leafs’ prospects, but also with their own rookie team. This class would probably be stronger than most of the Canadiens’ rookie teams of the last quarter century!

This absentee team would be significantly weaker on defense, of course, but significantly more promising on offense with the two 2024 first-round picks, Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage, two slightly older forwards who are making waves in Europe, Oliver Kapanen and Filip Ericsson, not to mention Aatos Koivu. The Canadiens’ top goaltending prospect, Jacob Fowler, is also not on the roster, retained in the NCAA. Let’s take a closer look.

Ivan Demidov, winger, 18 years old

The first pick in 2024, at fifth place, Demidov is by far the Canadiens’ best offensive prospect. He has one point in four games in St. Petersburg, in the KHL, where he plays between 10 and 14 minutes. Just the fact that he is there is almost an achievement.

Michael Hage, center, 18

Drafted at 21^e rank in 2024 thanks to the Winnipeg Jets’ choice obtained for Sean Monahan (we gave up a late second-round pick, from Colorado acquired in return for Artturi Lehkonen, to move from 26^e at 21^e (rank), Hage, a 6-foot-1, 187-pound right-hander, would be the club’s most promising forward if he were in Montreal this weekend. He has 75 points, including 33 goals, in 54 USHL games. He will play for the powerful University of Michigan team in the winter.

Olivier Kapanen, center, 21 years old

A second-round pick in 2021, Kapanen will be in Canadiens camp, but he skipped the rookie tournament to start the season with Timra in the Swedish top division (SHL) after a successful year in Finland, with 34 points in 51 games. After serving as captain and first center at the 2022-23 World Junior Championship, Kapanen scored six goals in eight games at the World Junior Championship in the spring, a team-high on a team that included Mikael Granlund, Jesse Puljujarvi and Olli Maatta, among others.

Filip Eriksson, 19, forward

This lesser-known prospect, drafted in the sixth round in 2023, has just earned a promotion to the SHL after a strong end to the season in the second division at Nybro, with 24 points in 21 games. He had three goals in as many games recently at a tournament with his new team, Växjö, and could play a leading role there.

Aatos Koivu, 18, center

Saku Koivu’s son has just started his season in the Finnish Premier League, for his father’s former club, Turku, and has amassed one point. This third-round pick, at 70^e rank, in 2024 constitutes a longer term project.

Vinzenz Rohrer, 20, striker

The 2022 second-round pick is entering his second season in the Swiss National League. He played in the Olympic qualifying tournament with Austria alongside David Reinbacher.

Logan Sawyer, 18, center

Drafted eight spots after Koivu, Sawyer will join Vegas Golden Knights prospect Trevor Connelly at Providence University. The 6-foot-1 forward had 15 points in 12 playoff games in the BCHL, Western Canada’s junior A league.

Bogdan Konyushkov, 21, defender

A smaller right-handed defenseman at 5-foot-11, he has already been a mainstay in the KHL for a few seasons with Torpedo Nizhny, led by the legendary Igor Larionov. This 2023 fourth-round pick could make the jump to North America by 2026.

Luke Mittelstadt, 21, defender

Expectations aren’t high for this lowly 2023 seventh-round pick, but he would be a nice addition to the roster. He had 20 points in 38 games as a sophomore at the University of Minnesota.

Rasmus Bergqvist, 19, defender

A bet in the seventh round in 2024. Bergqvist will play again in the junior ranks in Sweden.

Dmitri Kostenko, 21, defender

A hope that is no longer one. Even his coach has doubted his chances of playing in the NHL eventually. But since we have to complete our training…

Jacob Fowler, 19, goalkeeper

32-6-1 record, 2.14 GAA and .926 save percentage in his first season at Boston College for the 2023 third-round pick. Ducks prospect Cutter Gauthier recently said he’s never played for such a dominant goalie.

Evgeni Volokhin, 19, goalkeeper

Continues his training in the lower circuits in Russia. Great potential, no results yet.