The Canadian | The “flavor” of Sean Farrell (and others)

As the focus on the draft and prospect development continues to grow, so does the risk of a hockey player becoming the flavor of the month.

Think of a player who, because of his draft ranking or past exploits, generates momentary excitement, only to fall under the radar, sometimes for a short time, sometimes indefinitely. Not long ago, for example, Mattias Norlinder was seen by some as the Habs’ next power play quarterback. However, the Swede has just left the organization in near-complete anonymity.

Sean Farrell was already the flavor of the moment. In March 2023, after finishing fourth in U.S. college scoring that season, he signed his first professional contract with the Canadiens, even playing six games with the big club in the days that followed. This fourth-round pick in 2020 has seen his stock rise by being successively named USHL Player of the Year (2021), selected as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team (2022) and considered for the NCAA MVP award (2023).

Some 18 months later, the Harvard University graduate is taking part in his second rookie camp with the Habs. He spent the last year with the Laval Rocket, and barring a major surprise at the CH training camp next week, it’s on Île Jésus that he’ll continue his development in 2024-25.

At just 22 years old, and with only one professional season under his belt, Farrell is no stranger to rookie camp. However, younger players like Joshua Roy and William Trudeau are exempt. At the Canadiens camp, he will have to perform a small miracle to shuffle the deck.

He is fully aware that he is not the flavour of the moment, and he does not take offense. What tickles him more is knowing that due to two major injuries, he has not been able to “play [son] best hockey” last season.

A concussion and a shoulder injury forced him to miss several weeks of activities. “Frustrating” moments, he admits, during which he could not do himself justice. As a result, he was never recalled to the NHL last season, even though he had already tasted this level of play.

“If I had stayed healthy and played well, [un rappel] would have been a possibility, he believes. But it wasn’t up to me. I couldn’t give myself a chance. That was a more difficult element.”

Uniqueness

Farrell isn’t complaining about his lot, quite the opposite. Over the summer, he worked on building strength and rehabbing his injured shoulder. He arrived in Montreal in early July to train with more than a dozen Canadiens and Rocket players, under the supervision of skills coach Adam Nicholas. It was the first time he’d been able to focus on hockey, and not his studies, for an entire off-season.

With Nicholas, he focused mainly on his execution in shooting situations and, more generally, on his positioning on the ice. In his first season in the AHL, this featherweight (5-foot-9, 181 pounds) says he learned to keep his head up, while the robustness of the game has nothing to do with the NCAA.

“You have to be smart and not put yourself in a position to get hit hard,” he said. “I had to adapt, learn to avoid body checks that I don’t have to take. […] Sometimes you make a play, and you think you’re OK, but in this league, shots can come late. You can never let your guard down.”

Game intelligence remains Sean Farrell’s main calling card among the pros. And it is probably this asset that will allow him to stand out from his peers.

The remark is not insignificant. Pascal Vincent, head coach of the Laval Rocket and supervisor of this rookie camp, delivered a plea Friday in favor of unity. He recalled that he expected his players to “bring [leur] flavor in the team structure.” He would have served us the “ game in the game » made famous by Martin St-Louis.

“We try to establish with each player what will make him stand out,” said the pilot. “These will be simple themes that we can measure.” This is in order to transcend the expectations of the athletes themselves and those of the public, more often based on individual statistics.

Having just landed in the Habs organization, Vincent doesn’t yet know much about the skaters under his watch. However, he knows enough about Farrell to know that a player with his flair, “regardless of his size, is going to find a way to stand out.”

The main interested party wants to show that he is capable of playing in the NHL, whether this year or later.

He will obviously do ” [son] possible to push and win a position” in Montreal. Regardless, he especially wants to be at peace with the effort he will have made at the camp.

“No matter where I end up, it will be okay for me if I gave it my all.”

His first major audition will take place this Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre, when the Canadiens’ rookies will face those of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The crowd, as you might expect, will only have eyes for Lane Hutson. Sean Farrell, however, will want to show, in the words of his coach, what his “flavour” is. And prove that he wasn’t just the one from March 2023.