Ivan Demidov will be less good than Matvei Michkov (and Zeev Buium)

Some see the rebuild as being on track to bring Stanley Cups back to the Montreal Canadiens organization (which has been dry since 1993), while others are a little less confident in the work overseen by the Gorton – Hughes duo.

You know who the fans of this reconstruction are, and there are many of them in Montreal…

But guys like Corey Pronman(TheAthletic) seem to believe a little less. Two weeks ago, Pronman ranked the rebuilds of the 16 clubs that didn’t make the playoffs last spring… and even though some of those clubs aren’t even rebuilding, he ranked the Habs ninth.

His top eight?

1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Ottawa Senators
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. San Jose Sharks
5. New Jersey Devils
6. Utah HC
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Seattle Kraken

So it should come as no surprise that this morning, Scott Wheeler, also of TheAthletic, didn’t rank the Canadiens’ prospects very high in his top 114 players aged 22 or under.

114 players is a lot, so Wheeler made a few categories.

Tier 1 (MVP)
Connor Bedard.

Tier 2 (Franchise)
Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov, Tim Stutzle, Adam Fantilli, Wyatt Johnston, Brock Faber and Leo Carlsson.

Tier 3 (All-Star)
A group of players including Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky.

Tier 4 (Star)
Group of several players including Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher.

Tier 5 (Support)
Multi-player group featuring Michael Hage, Joshua Roy and Logan Mailloux.

I invite you to take a look at prospect expert Scott Wheeler’s detailed ranking list.

Ranking Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov in the third group, that of players with the potential to break into the NHL’s top 60, seems to me to lack generosity. In Wheeler’s mind, there will be an average of one player per team better than Demidov and almost two ahead of Slaf.

Yet Slafkovsky is a first choice overall and Demidov a fifth. And both are seen as much higher than that in Montreal…

At least Shane Wright is a long way behind, in the group of Guhle, Hutson and Reinbacher…

It’s also obvious to me that Hutson is too low, that Reinbacher worries many people and that Wheeler has the same doubts about Mailloux as some observers. Hutson and Reinbacher have the potential to become the 61st to 100th best players in the NHL, according to Wheeler. To imply that they have about the same ceiling surprises me, when I see Hutson higher than Reinbacher…

Still, it’s ironic to see two forwards ahead of any Habs defenseman, when we keep saying that the rebuild on the blue line is almost over!

In short, Demidov is ahead of everyone in the 2024 cohort except Macklin Celebrini and Artyom Levshunov and Zeev Buium (12th overall), while Reinbacher is a long way behind Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli and Will Smith. And far behind Matvei Michkov too!

What do you think of Wheeler’s(TheAthletic) ranking?

Are we too in love with our prospects (and our managers) in Montreal?

Or is TheAthletic underestimating our rebuild on Crave?

Or is it just me who doesn’t realize that having eight players in a top 150 is a good sign, hehe?