Habs Hebdo: Jared Davidson Stands Out, but Where Has Aatos Koivu Gone

Welcome to this new edition of Habs hebdo, your weekly column on the Montreal Canadiens’ prospects. For all previous columns: Habs Hebdo Section.

Since the beginning of last season, I’ve been closely following the performances of the Montreal Canadiens’ prospects. I keep track of all their personal statistics and enjoy sharing my observations and insights in this column that I hold dear. We’re now in December, and more than two months of the regular season have already passed. Are the prospects more productive than they were at this time last year? The answer is no. And by a large margin.

One year ago today, the top scorer among the Canadiens’ prospects was Cedrick Guindon with 30 points. Currently, the top scorer in the CHL among Canadiens’ prospects is Tyler Thorpe with 19 points. In the points leaders column, Ivan Demidov remains at the top with 20 points. In 2023, Filip Mesar (30 points) and Owen Beck (25 points) were having strong starts to their seasons. In the NCAA, Michael Hage has been performing well so far with 17 points in 13 games. At this time last year, Lane Hutson had 20 points in 15 games. There’s a lot of context to add here. This doesn’t mean the prospects are worse this season. They are playing in different leagues at different ages. I will certainly have the opportunity to go into more detail in a mid-season edition of the Hebdo CH!

Jared Davidson, Prospect of the Week!

A hidden gem among the Canadiens’ prospects? Jared Davidson impressed in the WHL two years ago, but his AHL debut was rather quiet. This season, experience is gradually settling in, and the forward is making a strong impression on the Rocket’s lineup. In addition to producing offensively, Davidson brings that aggressive, disruptive edge to the ice. The 22-year-old is currently ranked 3rd in scoring, just one point behind Joshua Roy and Alex Barre-Boulet. His combination with Owen Beck is working wonders.

The Rocket has struggled this week, suffering three losses in as many games. That said, even though the team has not performed to expectations, Davidson has been the offensive leader. He ended the week with 2 goals and 2 assists, while his teammate Owen Beck finished with 3 assists. Too bad for Sean Farrell, who, despite the brilliance of his two teammates, has still not managed to get on the scoresheet.

Aatos Koivu: A Prolonged Absence

The last game Aatos Koivu played was on November 6th. He was part of Finland’s lineup in the Karjala Cup. Since then, he hasn’t stepped onto the ice in either Liiga or the U20 league with TPS. The teams have resumed their regular schedules after a short break for the Karjala Cup. I did some research via TPS’s official website and found that Aatos Koivu has been sick since then. However, no further details have been provided about the exact reason or duration of the absence of this Canadiens’ prospect.

Koivu has been sidelined for several games now due to illness. It’s been almost a month since he last played. The 18-year-old center is still listed on TPS’s Liiga roster, so it’s likely that when he returns, he will stay in the professional adult league rather than returning to junior.

A Week to Forget for the Goalies

It was a tough week for all of the Canadiens’ pipeline goalies. Let’s start with the Rocket tandem, who gave up a total of 13 goals in 3 games. Jakub Dobes couldn’t work any miracles as he usually does, suffering losses in both of his starts. He ended with a save percentage of 0.822, which is still better than Connor Hughes, who gave up 5 goals on 20 shots in his only start of the week.

If we thought the performances of the goalies might be saved by Jacob Fowler’s brilliance, the opposite happened. The Boston College goalie didn’t have a great outing against the weak Dartmouth University. Fowler still picked up the win, allowing 3 goals on 13 shots. While his shutouts have been praised in various media, I find his consistency lacking this season, which wasn’t the case last year.

Lastly, Yevgeni Volokhin didn’t fare much better in the KHL. The goaltender is still in a three-man rotation with Sochi. He got one start in the three games of the week, allowing 4 goals on 35 shots. His team lost, and Volokhin ended the week as the third goalie, staying in the stands rather than serving as a backup.

FLASH NEWS

– Ivan Demidov watched an entire game from the bench without a single shift. Still no points this week for the organization’s top prospect.

– Team Canada Junior revealed the list of players for the upcoming camp for the December tournament. As expected, Michael Hage will not be there. Recently, he admitted he hadn’t been on their radar, and we can assume that no top-six spot was available for him. Since he’s not a player you’d want for support duties in a bottom-six role, Hage will have to wait, possibly until next year.

– My ranking of the top Canadiens’ prospects is coming soon! It will be available sometime during the Holiday season!

Statistics collected from November 25 to December 1st inclusive.

GOALIES

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