Canadiens Prospect Highlights: Hage, Xhekaj, & Thorpe Standout

The players taking part in the 2024 Montreal Canadiens development camp took to the ice on Friday morning for a pair of scrimmages between Team White and Team Red.

Before we start discussing the highlights, please remember that intra-squad scrimmages are just that, a friendly game between two teams that aren’t overly aggressive when it comes to hits and board battles. That’s not to say we can’t take anything from the games, but we do have to take the results with a grain of salt.

Michael Hage

It didn’t take long for Michael Hage to stand out from the crowd. The freshly drafted forward showed great hands, particularly when it came to driving the play and making his way to the middle of the ice. Of course, he won’t be able to simply glide to a high-danger scoring area in real games, but it was clear that Hage possesses the type of skill set that should eventually translate to the professional ranks.

Tyler Thorpe

The 6’4″ Vancouver Giants forward was one of the few players who stood out on Team White. He’s much bigger than most of his opponents, but that did not stop him from finding open ice. He’s not exactly an elite skater, but his agility is certainly above average. Thorpe used his shot as often as possible, displaying solid accuracy whenever the opportunity arose.

Florian Xhekaj

There have been doubts as to Xhekaj’s long term potential, as some have suggested he’s only scoring goals in the OHL because he’s older than his competition. Yes, he’s a late bloomer, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue he doesn’t also possess good hands, as evidenced by his nifty shootout goal that gave goaltender Jacob Fowler no chance.

Josh Nadeau

One of my favourite things to do at prospect camps is ignoring all the numbers and attempting to identify the best players without knowing their names. Some years, it’s the key prospects that stand out, but this year it’s camp invite Josh Nadeau that really impressed.

He’s set to return to the University of Maine this season, where he scored 45 points in 37 games last year. I don’t want to suggest the Montreal Canadiens need to sign him and change his NCAA plans, but he was certainly one of the best players on the ice on Friday.

Jacob Fowler

Every goalie ended up allowing a few goals, as the teams were playing with a very limited number of defencemen. With that in mind, Fowler didn’t have a dominant outing, but he did show flashes of brilliance, including this nice save on Sam Harris in the shootout.