Welcome to Catching The Torch, where we keep an eye on the Montreal Canadiens’ North American prospects and how their development is faring week by week. After filling out a tiered prospect pyramid last week and providing a broad scope of the Habs’ pool of North American prospects, I wanted to use the next couple of weeks as an opportunity to get into the specifics of the Habs’ draft picks and their projectability.
Starting off, I wanted to highlight one of the most severely overlooked prospects in the system, Xavier Simoneau. The 5’7”, 180-pound centre started his Junior career with the Drummondville Voltigeurs in 2018-19, immediately making himself known as one of the hardest forwards to face on a regular basis.