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Canadiens Prospect Watch: Roy And Kidney Steal The Show

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Montreal Canadiens prospect Joshua Roy

Back In Blue

It may not be fair seeing as he was a fifth-round pick, but the expectations are rather high in Montreal Canadiens prospect Joshua Roy’s case.

When he was kept off the scoreboard last week it did raise some eyebrows. After all, he’s one of the most talented players in the QMJHL. But now that Roy is back to his scoring ways, it’s safe to say his relatively quiet week was an anomaly.

This week, Roy bounced back strongly, earning 4 points against the Foreurs de Val d’Or, including his first hat trick of the season.

He followed it up with a two-point effort in the Sherbrooke Phoenix’s 3-2 loss to Drummondville.

Roy’s six points pushed him back to his scoring pace from last season, which allowed him to take home top honours as the league’s scoring leader.

With 9 goals and 16 assists in 14 games, Roy is now on pace for 42 goals and 72 assists in 66 games.

Steady Progress

It’s always a little more difficult to judge the progress of a Canadiens prospect playing overseas. Not only are the opportunities to watch them play quite rare, but the scoring pace can also often lead you to believe they’re producing underwhelming results.

Take second-round pick Oliver Kapanen, for example. With 4 goals and 6 assists in 20 games, Kapanen is producing exactly 0.5 points per game. But we must remember playing in a professional hockey league at just 19 years old is a big ask, especially since ice time is not easy to come by as a young player developing in Liiga.

It’s also worth noting that Kapanen only scored 1 goal and 1 assist last season with Kalpa, so the overall production is already significantly better even if there are several mitigating factors at play.

Dual Vision

Much like his QMJHL counterpart Roy, Riley Kidney had relatively weak production levels last week, at least according to his standards. But much like Roy, he also found his rhythm and plastered the scoresheet with his name.

Kidney started with a 3-point effort against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, including two goals. He went on to earn 4 points in the following game against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, once again including two goals.

His 7-point weekend pushes him to 9 goals and 17 assists in 16 games, which translates to a 38-goal and 71-assist pace for the season.

In Contention

When we released the inaugural Prospect Power Rankings, there was one name missing: Sean Farrell. It’s not that Farrell is a forgettable prospect, but rather, he had only played two games up to that point.

But now that Farrell is playing a little more regularly, not only will he make an appearance in the power rankings, but he’s also found his scoring rhythm.

Farrell scored his first goal of the season, a shorthanded goal, in Harvard’s 5-2 win over Brown.

As it stands, he has taken 18 shots in just 4 games, which bodes well for his future scoring potential.

Knight Rider

First-round pick Logan Mailloux has enjoyed an encouraging to the 2022-23 season, and that includes his two-goal effort against the Barrie Colts on Friday. Mailloux also added an assist in Saturday’s matchup against Owen Sound.

His 4 goals and 4 assists in 8 games leave him tied for 20th overall in OHL scoring among defencemen.

 

Miscellaneous Prospect News and Notes

  • Owen Beck scored 2 goals on 7 shots in Mississauga’s 6-3 win over Windsor.

  • Third-round pick Vinzenz Rohrer maintained his point-per-game pace this season by scoring a fantastic goal against the Barrie Colts.

  • Surprisingly, highly-touted Canadiens prospect Filip Mesar was kept off the scoresheet in Kitchener’s game against Saginaw, though it’s worth noting he had a goal called back and also took 5 shots on net.
  • Defensive dynamo Lane Hutson received not one but two accolades for his great start to his NCAA career.
  • At 20 years old, Prospect Jared Davidson may be older than most of his competition, but he’s also one of the top producers among them, with 7 goals and 12 assists in 10 games, which puts him on a 124-point pace this season.