Prospect Owen Beck Gives Montreal Canadiens More Options

The Montreal Canadiens are in an interesting situation as the NHL’s Trade Deadline looms on the horizon.

They have a few players on expiring contracts, and given that it’s currently a seller’s market, there may be an opportunity to acquire a few useful assets in exchange for their pending unrestricted free agents.

But a seller’s market also means that trading a player will leave a hole in the lineup, and acquiring a player from a different team to plug that hole would mitigate some of the potential value in a trade.

It’s like selling your house when the market is red-hot. Sure, you just received a good return, but you have to live somewhere, and now you have to buy a place for an inflated price in that same market.

Fortunately, the Canadiens have other avenues they can explore, and for the first time in a very long time, their AHL affiliate has started to churn out quality depth options.

Owen Beck Impresses

We have to be careful when discussing limited sample sizes, but the early numbers powering Owen Beck’s NHL debut have been incredibly encouraging.

We won’t start picking apart the results, at least not yet, but suffice it to say, things have gone well for the 21-year-old forward. Beck’s underlying numbers are near, or over 50 percent in most important statistical categories, and that’s while playing for a team that struggles to control shots and scoring chances.

He’s also made quite the impression on head coach Martin St-Louis, but that’s not surprising. Beck’s ability to seamlessly join a new team, require little to no instruction, and still manage to make a positive impact is a coach’s dream. If history is any indication, it won’t take long until Beck becomes one of St-Louis’ favourite players, just as he did in the AHL with Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent.

Of course, he’ll need to keep making the most of every shift, but that’s already his preferred modus operandi.