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In Hainsight: Canadiens Cut Dichow Loose |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Montreal had drafted the Dane 138th overall in the 5th round in 2019 and even though the cupboard is a bit bare at the goalie position, Kent Hughes has decided to sign Jakub Dobes drafted 136th overall in the 5th round in 2020 instead.
While Dichow had showed good things since being drafted, the fact that he acted as a back-up for Frolunda this season made it hard to evaluate his progress. Meanwhile, Dobes spent the last 3 seasons in the Big 10 where he was Ohio State’s starter and his numbers have been impressive. In his first year he had a .934 SP and then .918 for the last two, as for his GAA it stood at 2.26 in his rookie season and 2.31 in his last two campaigns.
Dichow will therefore be a free agent while Dobes should be headed to Laval for his first pro season. He won’t be the only rookie to knock on the Rocket’s door; Logan Mailloux, Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney will all be graduating from the CHL, Jayden Strubble and Sean Farrell will be coming from the NCAA, Miguel Tourigny will be back from Europe after a season in the Solvak league and Swedish prospect Emil Heineman will hope to build on the solid showing he had at last year’s camp. Even Filip Mesar could be coming to Laval even though he didn't have a standout season with the Kitchener Rangers (51 points in 52 games).
Needless to say, development will be the key word for the Montreal organization at all levels next season. On top of that fresh crop of rookies heading to Laval, the Canadiens will hope that their sophomores will take more strides in their own development; Kaiden Guhle, Justin Barron, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris and Jonathan Kovacevich at the blue line. Up front, there’s no doubt that all eyes will be on Juraj Slafkovsky and to a lesser extent on Raphael Harvey-Pinard who’s probably hoping that Kent Hughes will manage to make some room in his attack this offseason.
As for the young veterans, Martin St-Louis and Kent Hughes have both been clear on the fact that a hockey player never stops developing, meaning that Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach and Josh Anderson will also be followed closely by the development team. On the Spitting Chicklets podcast, St-Louis said that Caufield has been scoring goals all his life, so that’s not something he has to teach him but there are other things that he can teach him to mold him into a better hockey player.
It will be interesting to see if all that development can happen while the team raises its play and its compete level since the Habs’ brass has said that expectations will be raised this upcoming season. It’s too early to tell if the Canadiens will be able to compete for a playoffs spot (you never know what roster moves could happen between now and the start of the season), but it’s safe to say that the Atlantic division isn’t getting any easier and qualifying for the Spring dance will be a tall order.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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