Let's say the Habs are fortunate enough to draft Lindstrom. A player with similar size (maybe a bit less muscle) to Slafkovsky. Would you send him back to junior to dominate, or would you consider starting him in the NHL and letting him mature playing against men as Slafkovsky has had to?

Every scouting report talks about how he uses his size to physically dominate his opponents, but doing that at the NHL level will be much harder. Is the right way to bring along bigger body players to have them focus on skill at the lower levels, or a mixture of physicality & skill at the higher levels?

minors for sure. Even slaf looked out of place last year.

But did his play last year contribute to his improved play this year?

It's a good question. I would say you can't answer that right now. See what he does in training camp, if he shows he is ready for the NHL keep him, if not (and I would argue Slaf was not ready in his first year either) send him back to juniors.

I think the main difference is MTL was still rebuilding in Slaf's rookie season. I think next year MTL will be pushing to be more competitive and therefore they might not be able afford Lindstrom the same amount of patience in the NHL Slaf recieved.

Just because a kid has NHL size doesn’t mean he’s NHL ready. Minors for sure…if the Habs even draft him.

maybe he is worst from it or maybe he is better from it, no one knows. im just stating the fact he was not looking good last year.

One thing I've noticed is that some players challenge themselves and others need to be challenged in order to grow.

If the kid is in the WHL laying bad hits and crossing the ice with his head down, and there's no one to rock his world and send him a message, he continue to pick up a bunch of bad habits.

I'm not saying that's happening today, I honestly have no idea, but I look at a kid like Riley Kidney. 100+ points in junior as a center, 4th line LW in Laval.

Sometimes staying in junior can hurt a player who has all the tools but does not know enough to put them together.

I don't watch Lindstrom to really know anything about what his game needs... but I will speculate that with his missed time due to injury this season more development might not be the worst thing for him. Again, I think it's a decision that can't be made until you see where he is at prior to next season.

Edit: Do you watch many Laval games? Asking because I only catch highlights of the top prospects from time to time but it seems like a theme for Laval, undersized forwards play down in the lineup and don't get prime offensive opportunities. Not sure if it's a systematic thing with the coach or the fact that they have too many undersized offensive guys (only so much opportunity) or maybe I'm just wrong but it's seems to be a trend.

No. My answer would be the same if it’s Columbus or Ottawa or Anaheim drafting him. He missed a ton of time this year due to injury. Let him go back to juniors for another year with the hopes he can stay healthy and work on building muscle. Let him go to World Juniors next winter and play for Canada. There will be plenty of time for NHL games later on. No reason to rush.

They play Farrell & Gignac up the lineup. Kidney just didn't adapt quick enough. I've been to a few games this season. Farrell is their best power play forward by far. Really looks like Suzuki on the half wall.

What are your thoughts on Maillet? He's a 31 year old 5'10" forward who is Laval's 2nd leading scorer with 49 pts in 63 games. Laval probably isn't making the playoffs so why is this guy pushing their other prospects down the lineup and hurting their development? Would Simoneau or Farrell, or Davidson have gotten more opportunity if they signed a bigger depth AHL guy instead?

More speculation by me, but I think Kidney is a soft player but a talented playmaker who maybe just doesn't have the linemates to compliment his game in Laval.

Would I want him starting in the N? Yea. But we have a lot of other questions with our forward contracts already (and likely a ton of injuries coming early next year again) so we can be patient.

It appears to be working for Slaf now so I wouldn't be opposed to having him take the same path but we have a bunch of contracts to deploy already so if we don't move any we can wait.

I dunno. He didn't stand out in any way. Like... If I told you Evans needs to be in the top 6 next year.

Yeah we know he'd also ok, wouldn't embarrass the team, but has he really showed you enough offensively to warrant it?

If the Habs draft him, as others have mentioned, a lot will depend on training camp. I personally think there wouldn't be that much benefit to him returning to junior, but given the CHL/NHL agreement that players below 20 (or that haven't completed 4 CHL seasons) HAVE to go back to junior as opposed to the AHL, I guess the discussion really boils down to, do you want Lindstrom dominating against boys and gain confidence, or start learning the pro game early where he may or may not flourish. Sending him back to junior is the safe bet but letting him get NHL games at age 18-19 is a high risk high reward move.

Fair analysis. Bigger players may need a different playbook than smaller skilled forwards.

IMO they need to send him back Junior, he missed so much time due too injuries