The focus will be on young defencemen when players hit the ice for the first time at Canadiens training camp Thursday morning in Brossard.
Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher will all be looking to prove they are ready to play in the NHL — or at least close to being ready. Hutson looks like the one most likely to make the team, followed by Mailloux. Reinbacher is likely to start the season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
The big question for the young defencemen is whether they’re ready to defend at the NHL level.
“That’s what training camp and these exhibition games are going to be all about,” Rob Ramage, the Canadiens’ director of player development, said Wednesday when players reported to camp for physical and medical testing.
“You know what, they’re very keen,” added Ramage, who played 15 seasons in the NHL after being the No. 1 overall pick at the 1979 NHL Draft by the Colorado Rockies. “They’re sponges, they want to learn. They’re very determined young men, so whatever they’re going to have to learn they’re going to learn. So, how far off are they? I don’t like to make that prediction, to tell you the truth. Let’s just see what transpires here the next few weeks.”
The Canadiens will play their first two preseason games Monday and Tuesday at the Bell Centre against the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils. Ramage noted that the key for the young defencemen during training camp is to focus on each day and not get too far ahead of themselves.
“Young defencemen, you can end up digging the puck out of your net a lot if you get ahead of yourself and they’re very conscious of that,” Ramage said.
Hutson excited fans with his offensive ability during two Prospect Showdown games at the Bell Centre on the weekend against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ramage described the 5-foot-10, 162-pound Hutson as a “jitterbug.”
“I haven’t seen him on the dance floor … he’s probably pretty good,” Ramage added with a smile.
Hutson had 15-34-49 totals in 38 games last season at Boston University and a plus/minus differential of plus-14. Ramage described Hutson’s defensive play as like a dog on a bone.
“This kid is just relentless,” Ramage said. “You see the effort every shift. He leaves it out there every shift and that’s going to help him defending. Because even if he does get beat, there’s going to be a second effort trying to get back into the play and then kill that play.”
At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Mailloux can use size to his advantage while playing defence.
Ramage has done a lot of work with Mailloux, both on and off the ice, since the Canadiens’ controversial decision to select him in the first round (31st overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. That decision came after Mailloux had been charged with defamation and offensive photography in Sweden and was fined about $2,000 after secretly photographing a woman engaged in an explicit sexual act with him and then sharing the picture and her identity with his SK Lejon teammates.
Ramage said he was proud to see Mailloux wearing the “C” as captain for the two games on the weekend.
“Yes, he’s been through a lot,” Ramage said. “He’s embraced everything that he’s had to do. He’s put the work in and we’re seeing the results both on and off the ice. He deserved to have that ‘C’ on. He had a good season last year (posting 14-33-47 totals in 72 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket). Kelly Buchberger (an assistant coach) did a great job with him back on the blue line in Laval. He just got better as that season went along, capped it off with a game here at the Bell Centre (in the Canadiens’ season finale). So it was nice to see. He’s a good teammate, he’s a good leader, a good player and a very bright future for him.”
Last season wasn’t so good for Reinbacher, who had 1-10-11 totals and was minus-15 in 35 games with EHC Kloten in the Swiss National League. Reinbacher suffered two injuries — one to his knee and another to his hand — and Kloten went through three head coaches before finishing 13th in the 14-team league with a 17-29-6 record.
“He faced some adversity, which isn’t a bad thing,” Ramage said about the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Reinbacher. “It’s going to happen during his career. I found his game last year at (training) camp mature. He was more mature on the ice than he was off the ice. Off the ice has caught up this year.”
When it was noted that Reinbacher hasn’t looked like an “eye-popping” defenceman since being taken with the fifth overall pick at the 2023 NHL Draft, Ramage said: “We want consistency, strength, reliability. Eye-popping … that’s a nice word. I guess a nice attribute to have. But as a defenceman you want to build that foundation of trust with your coach and that’s the path he’s on right now.”