Hockey

The Habs have three of the NHL’s top 50 prospects, says Steven Ellis
Félix Forget
The Habs have three of the NHL’s top 50 prospects, says Steven Ellis
Credit: Getty Images

There's a growing sense that the Canadiens are turning the corner in their rebuilding process. The main elements of the club's young core have almost all arrived in the NHL… and that makes the next few years promising.It may still take a little time for the group to mature, but it's getting closer and closer.But despite everything, the club still has some excellent prospects in its bank. And today, Steven Ellis(Daily Faceoff) ranked the 75 best prospects among the league's skaters, and the Habs have three names on that list… and all three are in the top-50:Ivan Demidov, David Reinbacher and Michael Hage.

Unsurprisingly, Demidov is the highest-ranked Habs prospect… but he's not at the top of the rankings. Instead, it's Matthew Schaefer who has earned that honor, while Demidov finds himself in second place.And Ellis seems really optimistic about the young Russian forward: he's only giving the edge to a defenseman he sees being a Norris Trophy contender for 15 years.The habs' other two prospects, Reinbacher and Hage, rank 42nd and 49th. Ellis likes both guys a lot, and sees them as big pieces of the CH's future.He's confident that Reinbacher, if he can finally have a normal season, will show the extent of his talent… and he sees Hage as a guy who can really become the Canadiens' second center, behind Nick Suzuki.As the years go by, the Canadiens are likely to have fewer and fewer big names in this ranking… and that's normal. But today, having just reached the playoffs, the club still has three in the league's top-50. That's really, really encouraging… and even more so when you remember that Jacob Fowler exists, too.

'Overtime'

– Nick Suzuki, Noah Dobson and Samuel Montembeault will be in Calgary tomorrow.

– Mavrik Bourque has a new agent: Olivier Fortier. He also represents Noah Dobson, by the way.

– She didn't last long at the U.S. Open.

– He's so happy. With good reason!

– Yep.

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