Can Jacob De La Rose be a regular this season?

Jacob de la Rose has to pass through waivers starting next season. As the Habs have plenty of options in their bottom six already, the organization might be in a difficult position regarding the now 22-year-old prospect. He has been able to play in the big league for a while now but the issue was always …

Will Butcher – NCAA Free Agent

The Hobey Baker is awarded to a person exhibiting strength of character, leadership qualities, and outstanding skills in all phases of the game. While it definitely says a lot about the recipient, it doesn't mean an easy path to the NHL as most winners never make it. We can only hope that Will Butcher is part …

Is Stephane Da Costa Worth Pursuing?

Every off-season there are new rumours of KHL stars coming overseas. The Russian league is often the place to look for unknown talent at lesser costs, players having to prove they can compete in the top league in the world before earning higher paid contracts. They are generally good bets if you can stomach the …

A step forward for Joe Morrow

There’s no guarantee that first rounders will establish themselves in the NHL but teams are much more inclined to give them multiple chances to prove themselves. This has been the story of Joe Morrow for the last couple of years. Someone who seemingly possesses all the tools yet has had trouble putting them all together consistently …

What does Hemsky bring to the Habs?

  It seems like every off-season, Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin takes on reclamation projects, betting on players that were once dominating the league who have now fallen out of favour. The latest one is Ales Hemsky. He had some great seasons for the Oilers, remaining with the team while they were ongoing major changes: from competing for …

Joni Ikonen – Betting on skill

The NHL draft is all about balancing risk and reward. Scouts are experts at evaluating players in their draft season, but their harder task is predicting development. They have to envision the improvement of a prospect's skills but also evaluate the support system he will get in the years following the draft, as those are …

How versatile is Jonathan Drouin?

 An article by Andrew Berkshire of Sportsnet earlier this offseason discussed how Alex Galchenyuk and Jonathan Drouin would fit at centre for the Canadiens. Analytics provide some interesting answers to what can be very specific questions but applying them can overlook the different situations the players were in during the season. With coaches using different offensive and …

What makes a first round pick? A look at Ryan Poehling and Michael McCarron.

Trevor Timmins had an interesting interview before the 2017 draft. He touched on how the game has changed over the last few years, how it has become a necessity for teams to adapt to an increasingly fast play. A different kind of players, smaller with excellent skating, now thrive in the NHL. Speed Hockey sense …

What to expect from Jakub Jerabek?

It's not easy to find videos of the KHL but when you do find footage of it, it definitely becomes an experience. Teams have cheerleaders doing routines on a platform during the entire length of games and fans eat corn on the cob instead of hot dogs...