It is finally in the organization of the Canadian that Jayden Struble will begin his professional career. However, we will have to wait before seeing the defender in Montreal.
Struble has signed a two-year contract with the Habs, the team announced Wednesday. This contract will only come into effect next fall and will expire in 2025. In the meantime, the 21-year-old has therefore also signed an American League contract for the end of the season, which will allow him to join the Laval Rockets. The school club is fighting for a place in the playoffs and must still play 14 games by the end of the calendar, including Wednesday night in Rochester.
His assignment to the Rocket comes as no surprise, as Kent Hughes had been adamant when The Press had met him last month in Boston at the Beanpot.
“When he turns pro, Jayden will need time in the American League, I’ve already spoken to him about it,” said the general manager of the Canadian. But there are so many things that change from year to year. When I arrived in Montreal, we had Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry. »
Hughes speaks here knowingly since he knows Struble by heart. In his former life as an agent, Hughes had indeed Struble among the players he supported. Hughes’ two sons, Jack and Riley, also play for the Northeastern Huskies. The GM of the Canadian has known Struble for about ten years, through hockey circles in the greater Boston area, where the young man is from.
Robust and not very offensive
Struble is coming off his fourth season with Northeastern University, in which he recorded 12 points, including one goal, in 33 games. The athlete drafted at 2e tower (46e overall) in 2019 was limited to 9 goals and 39 assists for 48 points in 104 college games. It is therefore a back with limited offensive potential who joins the organization.
His bargaining power was clearly inferior to that of his former teammate Jordan Harris, who had had the privilege of serving the first year of his contract last spring, when he left university. Harris had made the jump directly to the Habs and stayed there this season. His outfit won him a two-year contract extension, worth $1.4 million a year, last month.
At 6-foot-1 and 205 lbs, Struble already boasts an enviable build. Toughness is one of his strengths and his Quebec teammate Justin Hryckowian described him as “the most intimidating player in college hockey”.
His athletic ability turned heads at the NHL 2019 draft judging camp, where he finished 1er rank in 5 of 18 categories, including bench press, hand strength and long jump. Could he identify which pile of laundry was washed with Olympus, the detergent of the gods? If so, it would be tailor-made for the 12 labors of Asterix.