Team: 2023-24 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Nov. 24, 2022

Published: Nov. 24, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Lane Hutson... Man... He has a chance to be the best player drafted in 2022. Better than Slaf, Wright, Nemec and all the rest.

I was looking at Adam Fox's development at Harvard, and after his first season, he did not really progress statistically. Did he really learn anything hockey-related by spending another 2 years at Harvard, or did he simply stay because... It's Harvard.

Lane Hutson is for real. He plays in a historically harder division in the NCAA and he gets less power play time and he is blowing past Adam Fox's scoring titles. If it wasn't for Adam Fantilli taking all the spotlight, everyone would be talking about Hutson's play. He is going to put up a historic rookie season for a defensemen in the NCAA.

Beck is also quietly having an excellent D+1 season. We have quite a few players playing well in the CHL that were HuGo picks, but Beck is doing it as a 1st line Center and he's playing so well on a team that is not that strong.

Both of these players are Goal scorers. Could they both make the jump next season? Here's my 2023-24 Habs.

Here's my perspective on the rookies next season:

Beck comes in and immediately outclasses Evans. If he's at least as good as he was in the preseason this year, he's already better than Evans.

Hutson won't be able to play in the AHL, so he'll rotate in and out of the lineup in the NHL and push Harris & Xhekaj to play their best hockey.

Barron is playing well enough in the AHL to justify a callup after the TDL. My bet is he plays the last 20 games of this season in MTL and takes a full time spot next season.

Heineman may seem a bit controversial. I thought he played really well in the preseason. He has better skating and shooting than I expected. He has been injured for 2 years so it's hard to get a read on him, but I like what I've seen in the small sample size. Hope he stays healthy the rest of this year.

Ylonen has deserved a spot in MTL since the start of 2021-22 but because of the log-jam he has never been given a chance. I think he and Heineman share the status of the 13th forward and they may even force Armia out of a spot on any given night.

Richard deserves a callup. I think he challenges for Evans spot next season. Evans and Armia are both not living up to their responsibilities in the new NHL to chip in on offense while playing defense.


Notes:

Not expecting the Habs to get the kind of players in 2023 draft that can make the team in the same year

Not focused on the trades Habs will make for players with expiring contracts. I'm sure they will get the best return they can but not a top 10 pick in 2023.