Canadiens Prospect Report: Forward Owen Beck’s NHL Outlook

When Montreal Canadiens prospect Owen Beck was traded to the Saginaw Spirit, the hope was that at the very least, he’d be put in a position that’s conducive to scoring.

Ideally, he’d be put in a situation that’s conducing to thriving.

It’s not that Beck had produced terrible numbers during his time with the Peterborough Petes or the Mississauga Steelheads, but his assignments focused mostly on acting as the team’s most important defensive forward.

Now that he’s free to spread his offensive wings, Beck hasn’t just found a new gear, he’s also become one of the consistent forwards in the Canadian Hockey League.

Saginaw Impact

As previously mentioned, there’s more to hockey than just scoring at an elite pace, but Beck’s recent uptick in scoring is sure to calm some of the concerns related to his production during his Draft+1 season.

Regardless of the situation in which the prospect is developping, expectations will always be sky-high when it comes to a player like Beck. He wasn’t picked in the first round, but given how well he played during his first development camp with the Montreal Canadiens, fans have first-round expectations when it comes to his Ontario Hockey League results.

His defensive acumen is fantastic, and his faceoff prowess unmatched, but there has to be a certain level of production if a player hopes to one day earn a permanent spot in the NHL.

You may have heard Beck is having a good second half of the season, but lost within the conversation is just how consistent he’s been since joining the Memorial Cup hosts.

Beck is currently in the midst of an impressive 17-game scoring streak for Saginaw, and in that stretch, he has scored 12 goals and 16 assists.

That puts his season totals at 33 goals and 42 assists in 54 games, good for 1.38 points per game.

But if we isolate his time with the Petes and the Spirit, his points per game ratio jumps from 1.2 to 1.5, a rather significant uptick.

To put a fine point on his recent scoring pace, Beck has only been kept off the scoresheet four times since he arrived in Saginaw.

On the flip side, he has produced 12 multi-point games for the Spirit, five of which included Beck scoring three or more points. Interestingly, his shot totals have taken a slight dip, however, that has more to do with playing on a team with other offensively-gifted players rather than an indication that Beck is shying away from taking shots.

Simply put, Beck is thriving now that he’s on a team that features other elite players such as Michael Misa and Zayne Parekh.

The Spirit have also looked much better since Beck arrived, as the team has gone 23-6 with Beck in the lineupk, and currently occupy the top position in the West division.

Looking Forward

Of course, there’s much more hockey left to play in his season.

Once the regular season is over, the Spirit are hoping to establish a healthy run in the OHL playoffs, which will once again put Beck in the spotlight.

But even if they fail to caputre the OHL championship, Saginaw has been selected to be the Memorial Cup hosts for the 2024 tournament, which means Beck will once again feature in the tournament that pits the best Junior teams in Canada against each other.

It’s become a recurring theme.

Beck’s teams tend to enjoy a lot of success when he’s at the centre of the action, just as the Petes did last year when they shocked the province and captured the OHL championship.

Without taking too much credit away from his teammates, it’s rather obvious why he makes such a positive impact, regardless of the team he’s playing for.

Beck is a cerebral centre that combines his defensive acumen with a nose for the net. And he does so without needing much help from the coaching staff, as he can quickly absorb information and put it into practice.

Even before he joined the Spirit, I was convinced Beck has what it takes to earn a job in the NHL. Very few players have such a well-roounded game at that age.

But now that he’s scoring in bunches, we may want to cricle Beck as a player who will be knocking at the door of the NHL lineup at the next Montreal Canadiens development camp.