Canadiens Sign Jared Davidson; Give Up Rights to Three Players
When a prospect is picked by an NHL team, they may believe they have made it, that the hard part is over, but this is rarely the case unless you are a legendary player. Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby were drafted and immediately entered the NHL, while the majority of drafted players are still developing. The deeper you go in a draft, the less probable you are to be a top NHL player; there are a few exceptions. Yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens had to decide what to do with four prospects drafted in 2022, Kent Hughes’ first crop.
Jared Davidson signed a two-year entry-level contract.
Jared Davidson was undrafted twice in the NHL draft before the Canadiens took a chance on the overage junior and selected him 130th overall in the fifth round of the 2022 entry draft. Initially, he had 16 points in 59 games before getting 89 points in 64 games the season before being drafted, which most likely convinced the Canadiens to draft him. The center spent five years with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds before being handed an American Hockey League contract with the Canadiens’ affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
In his debut professional season with the Rockets in 2023-24, Davidson appeared in 38 games and scored 16 points, including 11 goals. This meant he was third on the team’s rookie goal scoring list, after just Logan Mailloux and Joshua Roy. The Canadiens decided it was worth giving him a longer look and offered him a two-year entry-level deal with a budget price of $862,500.
Cedrick Guindon is no longer a Canadiens prospect.
Cedrick Guindon, a native of Rockland, Ontario, was selected 127th overall by the Canadiens in the 2022 draft. His scoring development was outstanding, but not enough to convince Montreal to give him an entry-level contract.
Furthermore, a team can only have 50 contracts on its books, and the Canadiens have had so many draft picks in recent years that this issue is sure to repeat itself in the future. Guindon is likewise not particularly tall and lacks the wow factor. There is nothing he does particularly well to distinguish himself from the crowd. Aside from the fact that he speaks French, I’m relieved to learn that it didn’t instantly result in a contract.
Petteri Nurmi Can Stay in Finland.
Petteri Nurmi, a Finnish left-handed defenseman, has continued to play in his home country after the Canadiens drafted him 194th overall in the seventh round. He did improve his offense slightly, with 15 points in 48 games and 16 points in 60 games in consecutive seasons, but it was insufficient to tip the needle in the “hired” direction.
It’s hardly surprising given the Canadiens’ blue line situation, particularly with left-shooting defensemen. He, like Davidson, was overaged when Montreal took a risk on him in the draft, but two years later, there has been little development. His plus/minus rating has been minus-7 and minus-9 over the last two seasons, and while this can be a deceiving statistic, the Habs’ scouting team in Finland most likely reported on what they saw to help them make the decision.
Miguel Tourigny Is Not Lane Hutson.
Miguel Tourigny was selected 216th overall in the seventh round of the 2022 NHL draft. Even though he is a right-handed blueliner, the defenseman’s path to the NHL would be difficult at 5’8″. Tourigny was an offensive dynamo in the QMJHL, with 80 points for the Blainville-Boisbrillant Armada and the Acadie-Bathurst Titans the season before being picked.
Unfortunately for Tourigny, the Canadiens had already assigned the job of small offensive defenseman on the club to Lane Hutson, who is around the same size but shiftier and faster. After his draft year, Tourigny traveled to Europe to play in Slovakia, but when he returned to Canada the following year, he was unable to break into the Rockets’ lineup and was assigned to the Trois-Rivières Lions of the ECHL.
The Canadiens now have 21 players on their reserve list, and with 12 picks in the 2024 NHL draft, that number may drastically increase. It might also fall before the draft if Hughes finds a suitable deal to improve his current lineup. For example, that second first-round pick may be on the move if he can work out a deal to obtain some help up front for his offense-starved team. In less than a month, we’ll learn what Hughes has in store for us.
