|
Habs sign RW Antoine Waked & Ice Caps hope to avoid elimination in game 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
The Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate St. John’s Ice Caps will attempt to stave off elimination as the Syracuse Crunch hold a 2-1 advantage in their best of five series. Each game has been a hard fought battle and decided by just won goal. The Ice Caps had a glorious chance to go up 2-0 in the series but saw their 3-1 lead evaporate with less than five minutes remaining in game two before the Crunch scored in double overtime to the series.
In goal Charlie Lindgren has been mostly stellar despite a rough start to game three when the Crunch jumped out to 2-0 lead. On offense Charles Hudon has led the way with four points in three games. He has clearly been the Ice Caps best forward which continues to make it confounding for Canadiens fans why he was not up with the big club while they were especially starved for offense. Many are concerned that Hudon will selected by Las Vegas at the expansion draft as the soon to be restricted free agent is not automatically protected. It would be a shame to potentially lose the one offensive prospect actually developed by the Canadiens before even giving him a real chance in the NHL…
The Ice Caps had received reinforcements for game three by the ways of two former first round draft picks. Michael McCarron was sent down after the Canadiens season finished while defenseman Noah Juulsen made his professional debut. McCarron provided the screen on Zach Redmon’s powerplay goal but otherwise spent too much time in the box with six penalty minutes. Juulsen was solid and did not look out of place in the lineup.
For tonight’s game four match, the Ice Caps have slightly altered their lines:
McCarron started last game as the first line center but will play on the second line right wing this evening. Jacob De La Rose will center the line instead and he has elevated game down the regular season stretch and into the playoffs. He is often the forgotten prospect considering how he was rushed into the NHL in his first year of professional hockey in North America. De La Rose will be 22 years old in just a few weeks time and should not be written off just yet. He still has the potential to become a third line center in the NHL, however the Canadiens do seem to already have an abundance of players capable of playing that position.
Head coach Sylvain Lefebvre has also decided to go with a traditional 12 forward, 6 defensemen lineup tonight whereas in game three he decided to dress 7 defensemen, likely because he was unsure in what he would get out of Juulsen. The pairings for game three will be:
Juulsen will be paired with veteran Joel Hanley and the duo should be a strong second unit for the Ice Caps while Brett Lernout gets promoted to the top pairing alongside Zach Redmond.
Interestingly, the Ice Caps have recalled goaltender Zach Fucale from the Brampton Beast in time for game four. The Beast are in the midst of their second round playoff series and are coming off a 45 save performance to win game one. Is this insurance in case Lindgren has another rough start?
--
In other prospect news, the Canadiens announced the signing of Antoine Waked, a 6’1” 190lbs RW on Friday:
Waked stepped up and had a career year as an overage player with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, collecting 39 goals and 41 assists in 67 games. His previous career highs were just 15 goals and 38 points. The Huskies were previously stacked on offense with the likes of Timo Meier, Francis Perron and A.J. Green and so Waked played a defensive role on the third line as will as contributing on the penalty kill. With the Huskies needing to replace those players on offense, Waked was given an opportunity to play in a more offensive role and ran away with it, nearly reaching his career high in points by the end of November.
While his 17.3 shooting percentage is impressive, his ability to score goals is not so surprising considering his past year’s shooting percentages of 12.9% in 2015-2016 and 23.4 (!) % in 2014-2015. Perhaps he does not shoot enough as he has a very good wrist shot. It has not been a secret that Canadiens general manager had Waked on his radar for much of the season. By the end of the season Waked had garnered interest from as many as 15 NHL teams, hoping to sign him as a free agent. From Saint-Bruno-de-Marthaville to the south shore of Montreal, Waked admittedly grew up a Canadiens and said it would be a dream to join the organization. It is nice to see that dreams do come true.
However, this signing is not just a feel good story. Waked has speed, defensive awareness and now the ability to contribute offensively. The Canadiens lack depth at forwards with top six potential, especially on right wing. This is a low risk signing and one that might just work out well down the line after Waked has the opportunity to develop in Laval come 2017-2018.
Cheers and follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»