Why the Canadiens’ decision on Filip Mesar will not solely be based on player development
By
Arpon Basu
Sep 18, 2022
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Midway through the second period of the
Canadiens’ final game of the prospect tournament, they had the puck in their own end looking to get it moving toward the Ottawa
Senators’ end.
Filip Mesar, the Canadiens’ second first-round pick of the last draft, recognized the situation and, playing at centre for a second game in a row, made sure he was available to take a pass at his own blue line before taking three or four lightning-quick strides through the neutral zone.
Just like that, the initial objective was achieved, the puck was in the Senators’ zone and moments later, it was in the Senators’ net.
Mesar didn’t get an assist on the play — that went to William Trudeau, who took a pass from Emil Heineman and then made an extra pass to Xavier Simoneau for an empty-net tap-in — but Mesar made the goal possible.
By the start of the third period, Mesar was back on the wing, playing with his buddy
Juraj Slafkovsky and probably the Canadiens’ best player throughout the weekend, centre
Owen Beck. And he didn’t skip a beat, continuing to play highly effective hockey, showing speed and smarts and elusiveness and quick hands.
“We gave him a shot at centre and wing throughout the whole tournament, and he did well at both positions,” Laval Rocket coach Jean-François Houle said after the Canadiens’ 7-2 win. “So it’s kind of confusing. But it’s great to see a young player who’s very (versatile) like that, who can play in any situation. So we’ll see what happens this week and in the big camp.”
Mesar is indeed confusing, for many reasons.
For one, the Canadiens need to decide where he will play this season. They would prefer having him in North America, that much is clear. Because Mesar is a first-round draft pick from Europe, the Canadiens have the option to have him play in Laval this season. But his OHL rights are held by the Kitchener
Rangers, who are hopeful to have Mesar join them after training camp.
The tricky part for the Canadiens is that we’re told Mesar has made it clear to them he doesn’t want to play in the OHL, which makes sense, especially considering Mesar has been playing professional hockey against men in Slovakia the last two years. He would probably prefer playing pro in Sweden to playing major junior hockey in Kitchener, and that’s something the Canadiens don’t want.
“I think the best option for me will be maybe AHL, but OHL is good option also,” Mesar said, diplomatically. “Wherever I will play, I want to be the best everywhere.”
One
NHL scout we asked about it couldn’t remember the last European player of Mesar’s stature — the Canadiens list him at 5-foot-9, 176 pounds — who came to play in the AHL right after his draft year. Some bigger players have done it,
Mikko Rantanen and
Mika Zibanejad among them, but generally European players tend to play their draft-plus-one year in Europe if they are not ready to play in the NHL.
Playing in Kitchener would probably be best for Mesar’s development right now, but it’s not that simple a decision. As one Canadiens front-office source put it, “it is not a linear equation.”
This is also where the positional question comes in for Mesar. It sounds as though the Rangers would likely use him at centre, and considering the Canadiens’ AHL coaching staff used Mesar at centre two games in a row here, they also seem to be intrigued by that possibility. But his NHL future is basically guaranteed to be on the wing — with
Nick Suzuki,
Kirby Dach, and now Beck seemingly pencilled in at the position in the near-to-medium term, and not to mention
Christian Dvorak and
Jake Evans, Mesar simply wouldn’t fit at centre.
Mesar played exclusively centre growing up but moved to the wing when he turned pro in Slovakia. Though his build is probably better suited to the wing, his other skills are very well suited to playing in the middle of the ice. His speed through the neutral zone is eye-catching, and speed includes everything: skating, speed of hands and speed of thought. But that build and the Canadiens’ organizational depth chart means he is all but guaranteed to play on the wing in the NHL.
Again, not a linear equation.
There is something to be said also about the group that will play in Laval this season. It’s not clear exactly who will be there, but what’s already clear is that the Rocket will be much younger and will include numerous players who have very real NHL potential. A number of AHL veterans were allowed to leave in the offseason to get ready for the influx of prospects, a flow that will be even greater next season.
Houle’s job, in that sense, has never been more important.
“It’s great when you look at our sheet right now and we’ve got a lot of first-rounders, second-rounders, third-rounders,” Houle said. “I think it’s great for the organization that there’s a lot of guys that will be coming from underneath and pushing the top guys. It’s our job in Laval to develop players and our coaching staff is going to be ready for that. It’s going to be fun to watch those kids grow into NHLers.”
So, there would be some interest in having Mesar integrate that group right away, even if it is not the ideal development path for him.
A similar decision needs to be made in the case of William Trudeau, who could go back to Charlottetown in the QMJHL for his overage year, a league where he doesn’t have much left to prove but where he could dominate for a year, which also has developmental benefits. The Canadiens have more options with him, however. They could sign him to an AHL contract and have him play all year in Laval or, and this sounds like the most win-win path, they could sign him to a series of professional tryout contracts and then decide if he would be better off finishing the year in the QMJHL, getting the best of both worlds.
These are only two of the difficult decisions the Canadiens have in front of them, decisions that impact player development but are not solely influenced by player development. But what both cases show is just how different things will be in Laval this season, how much more of a developmental environment it will be, and how much more of an internally competitive dynamic it will have.
Take the case of Gianni Fairbrother, who last season was one of the only defencemen on the team who had a real chance of one day playing for the Canadiens and this year will find himself as one of several players who have similarly realistic ambitions.
“I think it’ll be awesome, probably having four or five (more) young guys down there,” Fairbrother said. “Everyone obviously wants to get to the next level, so everyone’s going to be doing everything he can to push each other and everyone’s going to have to play their best, otherwise they’re going to have guys skip over them. So I think it’s going to be good and it’s going to be fun.
“It’s just going to force everyone to show up and be their best every day. Guys are going to be hungry to keep getting better and keep improving.”
This is always the dynamic the Canadiens have wanted in Laval and it seems like this season is the first of several seasons where this will be the case, where fans can go watch real future Canadiens play in Laval.
Having Mesar be a part of that certainly has its benefits, but it is only one piece of what is a multi-faceted, highly-layered decision the Canadiens will have to make with him.
(Photo of Filip Mesar: David Kirouac / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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