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Jared Davidson: no word yet on whether the Canadiens will offer him a contract this week

As you may know, not every prospect a club drafts ends up with an entry-level contract. Some never make it to the NHL.

Whether it’s because of the youngsters’ performance, their desire to go elsewhere, or whether it’s because of the 50-contract limit a team can offer, decisions have to be made.

That’s the way it is every year.

What’s interesting is that some prospects (mainly from Europe or American colleges) have four years to sign a contract before becoming a free agent… but others have two years before becoming eligible for the draft again.

This is the case for CHL prospects.

As Guillaume Lefrançois (La Presse) points out, the first draft of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes in Montreal was two years ago, which means that the club will have until Saturday (June 1 is the deadline to offer a contract) to keep certain players in town.

The journalist paints a picture of the top prospects drafted by HuGo who are likely to be released by the Habs.

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One of the most intriguing cases is that of Jared Davidson. After all, the forward played with the Laval Rocket last year, signing a one-year AHL-only contract for the 2023-2024 campaign.

The goal? See what he was made of.

By drafting him, the Canadiens hoped to turn him into a Rafaël Harvey-Pinard: draft him at 20, send him back to junior and give him a year in the AHL to see if he could be signed two years after being drafted.

He was good in the WHL at 20 and had a good training camp in 2023 with the Habs…

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But you have to wonder if he did enough in Laval to show he’s in a position to earn an NHL contract with the Habs. He scored 16 points, including 11 goals, in 38 games for the Rocket in 2023-2024.

And according to Guillaume Lefrançois, nothing is done.

According to our information, the player’s entourage has yet to receive a definitive answer from the Tricolore, so hope persists. – Guillaume Lefrançois

Will the Habs, who have several draft picks in the next few auctions, judge Davidson’s potential worth exploiting for the future? Because if he signs, it’s “at the expense” of someone else, if you know what I mean.

Obviously, that remains to be seen.

Note that Cédrick Guindon, Miguel Tourigny and Petteri Nurmi are also hopefuls for this 2022 crop, which is especially noteworthy for the likes of Juraj Slafkovsky, Filip Mesar, Owen Beck, Lane Hutson and Adam Engstrom.

Will Guindon, Tourigny and Nurmi, who are in the same situation as Davidson, receive a contract before Saturday? It’s doubtful.

(Credit: Hockey DB)

In gusto

– Carey Price is still on the list.

– Excellent point.

– Things are going well for the Yankees.

– Not wrong.

– The question on everyone’s mind.