The Montreal Canadiens announced this morning that the team’s development camp would be held in Brossard from July 2-5. The public can always check out the team’s prospects and invited players. The only scrimmage will be on Friday, probably the best day to attend.
Who Will Be in Attendance?
Centre Owen Beck will be there. He should stand out from the group as a 20-year-old who will turn pro this season after finishing his junior career on a high, winning the Memorial Cup. The Canadiens’ second first-round pick, Michael Hage, will also be present and should be interesting to watch for fans who have yet to see him.
Logan Sawyer, who the Canadiens drafted on Saturday with the 78th overall pick, should also be in attendance. Nick Bobrov described him as the other good guy in Toronto when he was growing up playing against Hage (the first good guy). The co-director of Amateur Scouting summed up their selection by saying we got a couple of good guys from Toronto.
Related: Canadiens’ Prospect Owen Beck Leads Saginaw to Memorial Cup Victory
Florian Xhekaj will no doubt make his presence felt. He improved by leaps and bounds last season. Seven of the 10 players drafted by the Canadiens over the weekend will be on the ice. In addition to the two already mentioned, Ben Merril, Owen Protz, Tyler Thorpe, Rasmus Bergqvist, and goaltender Mikus Vecvanags complete the class of 2024.
The Canadiens also invited 14 players on a try-out basis, seven of whom are from Quebec: Francois-James Buteau, Jules Boilard, Vincent Collard, Felix Gagnon, Justin Larose, Israel Manscum, and Charles Savoie. Another one, Emanuelson Charbonneau, plays in the QJMHL, making it eight invitees to play junior hockey in the province.
Another prospect of interest at the development camp will be Alexander Zetterberg, a distant relative of Henrik Zetterberg. Considering that many invitees come from all over the world to get their first strides in a Canadiens’ uniform, it is just the beginning of their journeys into professional hockey, and none of these invitees should be looked down on or dismissed. It wasn’t so long ago that fan favorite Arber Xhekaj burst into the scene that way.
Who Won’t Be in Attendance
Unfortunately, fifth-overall pick Ivan Demidov will not be there since he has no visa to come to Canada (from: Canadiens will open annual development camp Tuesday in Brossard, The Gazette, July 1, 2024). Lane Hutson won’t be there either through no fault of his own; however, the Canadiens insisted he needed to rest properly this offseason.
Do not expect Aatos Koivu to be there either; he didn’t fly over for the draft to not disturb his training, and he won’t do it for a development camp either.
David Reinbacher and Filip Mesar will not be there either, perhaps because they were there before, and the team believes it’s better to give them a bit more downtime before the rookie camp
Still, it will be worth making the trip to Brossard to get a glimpse of what the future could look like in a few years. I’ll try to monitor Xhekaj, Hage, and Sawyer closely. I’m also somewhat intrigued by Zetterberg, but it’s probably just for the bloodlines. After all, he did go undrafted, but never say never, as they say.
Of course, the level of play will be much better at the rookie camp in September. For one, defenseman Hudson will be attending, and many believe he will start the season in Montreal to allow him to develop under Martin St. Louis, similar to how the Canadiens handled Juraj Slafkovsky’s development. Reinbacher will also be there as the start of his first professional season on this side of the pond. Filip Mesar should also be there and will no doubt want to stay up with the pros this year; he doesn’t have much more to learn from junior hockey but has a long way to go on the professional front.
Montreal announced this morning that they would start their season at home, facing the Toronto Maple Leafs (as always) for the home opener on October 9, 2024. Hopefully, the Canadiens will have signed Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron by then.
