Top 15 CH prospects: Graduates, departures and honorable mentions

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Crédit:

We’re back at it again this summer with our “Top 15” of the Habs’ most important prospects!

What’s special about this countdown is that it takes into account the fact that more and more teams are continuing to develop their young prospects in the NHL.

In Montreal, this will obviously be the case next season with Ivan Demidov, but Hutson and Slafkovsky can also still be considered prospects by our definition.

For us, a prospect is simply a young player who can still aspire to the NHL or from whom we can still realistically expect a clear progression to the NHL.

It’s not a count based on age or an arbitrary number of games played or a certain level of performance achieved.

Of course, Slafkovsky and Hutson already have a certain amount of experience. They’re established, successful players.

In the case of the little American, we can even talk about a fairly high level of excellence: he’s won the Calder Trophy!

But can they still improve significantly?

We think so.

It will be no small task for Hutson to record 66+ points, but he can certainly score more than 6 goals, and there’s still room for significant defensive progress in his case.

The same goes for Slafkovsky, who was expected to produce more last season, but instead repeated his 50 or so points from the previous season.

But even though he has already played 200 games (!) in the NHL and is preparing for his fourth season in Montreal, it’s not unusual to take a small step to the side before making a big leap forward. Take a look at the careers of the Tkachuk brothers for proof. Even Nathan MacKinnon took five years to explode into the player he is today…

So what’s to stop us hoping for 70 points and a lot more consistency from Slafkovsky next year at just 21 years of age?

In short, we’ll have time to come back to these two “super prospects” and Demidov towards the end of our countdown, but let’s start today with the graduates, departures and honorable mentions.

Graduates

Kaiden Guhle
The 16th pick in 2020 under Timmins-Bergevin played 30 fewer NHL games than Slafkovsky. But given his slightly later arrival, his many injuries and his progress curve that is drawing to a close – unlike Pierre McGuire, I no longer expect a great leap forward in his game – Guhle is now one of the graduates of this ranking.

At just 23 years of age and more solid than ever defensively, we’re even hearing more and more about him as one of the club’s veterans!

While all scenarios seemed possible following his draft – he was already third in this ranking in 2021 and was predicted to score quite a few points! – his role in the Habs organization quickly became clearer, and we quickly adjusted our evaluations.

Guhle will probably never play another minute on the powerplay in his Montreal career.

On the other hand, he will undoubtedly be one of the organization’s top two shutdown players for a very long time to come, and will play a crucial role at 5-on-5 as well as on the power play.

He simply has to learn, again and again, to manage his somewhat “kamikaze” nature and protect himself better on the ice..

Arber Xhekaj
Another “vestige” of the Bergevin era, Arber Xhekaj – 24 years old, 165 games – has also served his time in this countdown.

Xhekaj made his debut in 2022 as one of our honorable mentions and has since held around 10th place.

After playing 70 games and posting his most modest statistics since joining the NHL in 2024-2025, we feel that Arber’s potential has been reached. Only small defensive improvements and the return of a little more offensive production are realistic in his case.

We’re definitely talking about a third-pair defenseman in a limited role who doesn’t have enough hockey IQ to take on the best players in the league night after night.

That doesn’t take away his offensive (especially his shooting) and pugilistic qualities, but it does take away minutes and favorable opportunities to deploy them.

Departures: Mailloux, Barron, Primeau, Heineman

Logan Mailloux
“Bonsoir, il est parti”!

Since his controversial arrival in the organization, we’ve always thoughtwe’d do everything we could to turn a negative situation into a positive one in the management of the “Mailloux file”.

Logan Mailloux the day after he was selected by the Canadiens in 2021.
(Credit: Screenshot: Youtube.com)

In retrospect, that’s what happened.

Over the years, we’ve also never missed an opportunity to talk about a “possible Mailloux departure” in this annual ranking , where the Ontarian has never climbed higher than 9th place for several reasons.

Firstly, we never felt that the new administration – which had not committed the “odious” act of drafting him – was going to do everything in its power to find a niche for him in Montreal.

Quite the contrary, in fact.

Kent Hughes’ first big deal was another big, mobile, right-handed defenseman: Justin Barron, who had already been converted into another right-handed defenseman, Alexandre Carrier. We’ll come back to this later.

Then, a few months later in the 2022 draft, the organization quickly drafted two talented, ultra-mobile left-handed defensemen in Lane Hutson (62nd), a talent many knew was worthy of the first round, and Adam Engstrom (92nd); two guys who quickly moved ahead of Mailloux in the minds of Hughes and Gorton.

But it was in 2023 that the fatal blow was probably struck with the selection of right-hander David Reinbacher at#5 overall, almost a carbon copy of Mailloux in physical terms, but with a far superior hockey processor between the ears.

In managing the Mailloux file itself, the organization did what we always suspected it would do: manage the initial crisis and turn the negative into a positive.

We helped Mailloux say and do the right things, then let him develop in the OHL and Laval at his own pace, away from the big spotlight, while making sure to give him a few NHL call-ups to boost his value just enough.

Time was also allowed to run its course in the NHL and, unsurprisingly, the old fans eventually returned to the dance floor.

That said, to my knowledge, no one in Quebec predicted that Mailloux would be traded for such a return. Zachary Bolduc was selected 17th overall by St. Louis in 2021, 14 spots ahead of Mailloux.

At 22, he recorded 19 goals and 36 points in 72 games, playing an average of just under 13 minutes last season.

Not exactly a celery stalk.

However, Doug Armstrong made it very clear that the Blues would have liked to draft Mailloux in 2021.

It’s worth noting that, according to Bob McKenzie’s pre-draft list for 2021, only one of the 10 scouts surveyed had Mailloux in their top 15…

Was it a Blues scout? Who knows?

In any case, Bolduc, with 97 games of NHL experience, will replace Mailloux in our rankings and should end up higher than 11th, the last position occupied by the Ontarian in 2024..

The Justin Barron mystery
Barron has been much, much less talked about during his time in Montreal.

I personally believed for a long time that his potential was slightly greater than Mailloux’s, but for some reason, Barron never managed to find confidence and consistency with the Habs.

It may come in Nashville, but in Montreal, we felt we’d been patient enough in his case. So the Habs welcomed veteran Alexandre Carrier with open arms, and everyone’s been better off ever since.

The departures of Barron and Maiiloux (and the health of Reinbacher’s knees?) undoubtedly motivated the organization to sacrifice its two first-round picks to acquire Noah Dobson and then turn to three other right-handed defensemen at the last draft: Pickford, Handel and MacNiel.

Will one of these three newcomers find a place in our 2025 rankings?

Stay tuned!

Cayden Primeau
With only 44 NHL games under his belt, Primeau found himself in 13th place in last year’s rankings.

A year later, and now with 55 games under his belt, he’ll now be playing for one of the organizations his father was familiar with, the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, after being traded for a7th-round pick in 2026.

Following a fairly solid 2023-2024 season in Montreal and Laval, the American had his share of difficulties before being returned to Laval, where he quickly found his feet. Then he ran into trouble again in the playoffs, among others against the Charlotte Checkers and the man who “replaced” him in the organization: Kaapo Kahkonen.

Good luck Cayden!

Emil Heineman
Heineman was never a big “star” in this countdown. But for the record, he was ranked 13th two years ago…

After an ordinary first season in Laval in 23-24, the Swede surprised everyone last camp by earning a spot in Montreal, stealing a chair sadly “abandoned” by Joshua Roy…

Very consistent and effective until his famous accident in Salt Lake City, which left him with a fractured wrist (10 goals, 17 points in 40 games), it was much more difficult on his return. He no longer seemed able to unleash his powerful shots with ease and precision.

We hope he’ll be back to his best under Patrick Roy on Long Island. A role player who clearly had some value, and a fine addition to the Islanders’ bottom line.

Honorable Mentions

Tyler Thorpe: We like Thorpe’s chances of breaking into the Habs lineup within the next few years. He fits in with the future, heavier, meaner identity the Habs seem intent on giving their final two trios. A guy “in the plans”. We can’t wait to see if he has a similar season to the one Florian Xhekaj had last year in Laval. He’s got a better shot than Arber’s little brother and has already improved his acceleration, which remains his biggest weakness. A McCarron with more finish and balance on skates.

Oliver Kapanen : ” Beige” is pretty much the color that comes to mind when I watch Kapanen play. He does a lot of little things quite well, but doesn’t really have his own identity or a quality that makes him stand out from the crowd. One of many right-handed centers in the organization, he loses quite a few points in “rarity”, let’s say… Ordinary in Montreal at the end of the season and in Laval in the playoffs… Serious candidate for a trade. If he survives next camp, the Habs will do well to increase his value by having him play games in Montreal in the fall. At worst, he’ll have to dominate in Laval.

Sean Farrell: Without making too much noise, there was a spectacular explosion on Farrell’s side last winter, when he scored something like 42 points in his last 45 games. Before that, he had 2 in 22! Often his team’s best forward, we saw a Farrell with a lot of timing, more speed and intensity, who scored a good number of goals from the slot and in front of the net. Here’s one who could muddy the proverbial waters, and who we may want to evaluate long enough for the next camp. The “little guy” knows how to play hockey and could logically finish among the AHL’s top scorers next year, but an encore is also far from impossible.

Joshua Roy: Roy has only himself to blame for last season’s disappointment. He’ll need a terrific camp to get back into the organization’s plans. From here, he should be competing with Kapanen, Farrell, Beck and Florian Xhekaj for a spot in Montreal. But the Beauceron has also become an excellent candidate for a change of address…

Vinzenz Rohrer: I’ve always liked the energetic Rohrer, who should be playing in Laval next year after a few seasons in the pros in Switzerland, where, all in all, he did well. Excellent at the last World Championship for Austria, Rohrer excels in forechecking and could become an energy player in the NHL if he continues to develop. One of the youngest players selected in 2022, we forget he’s still only 20! A great addition to the Rocket line-up. We’ll keep an eye on him.

Conclusion
I’d have liked to tell you about “project” goalkeepers Evgeny Volokhin and Arseni Radkov, who certainly deserve a place in the honorable mentions, but we’ll say a few words about them instead when analyzing the relative importance of Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler within this very deep bank of prospects.

We’ll be right back with the “official” start of the top 15!