Day 2 of Montreal Canadiens Rookie Camp

The first news of the day came out that forward Hayden Paupanakis will be unable to participate in this week’s Rookie Camp, thanks to contracting mononucleosis. This is a tremendous blow not only for Paupanakis but also for the fans who were looking to see him play in this weekend’s Rookie Showcase. He was among the players that many fans like myself were excited to watch this weekend. Nonetheless, we are all wishing him a quick recovery, and hopefully, he can have a solid season with the Kelowna Rockets. 

On the ice, one combination that was seen a lot practicing drills together was Ivan Demidov with Oliver Kapanen and Florian Xhekaj. This could be a sign that we will see this trio on Saturday when the Habs rookies take on the rookies of Winnipeg Jets. Xhekaj playing alongside Demidov could be a good move to make sure he protects him on the ice as a sort of sheriff during the two Rookie Showcase games. These rookies on the other teams will likely want to take a shot at the best player throughout these games to get noticed by their teams.

Speaking of Demidov, he absolutely toyed with everyone on the ice today. The way he made the drills look so easy was incredible. It started with a one-on-one drill and later continued with this incredible breakaway goal, where he managed to beat everyone up the ice by at least a full second. He is on a completely different level than anyone else at this week’s camp. It’s honestly scary how good he looked on Thursday. Everyone at the camp seems to also be taking notice.

Goaltender Jacob Fowler mentioned that Demidov has some of the highest levels of talent he has ever seen. He also said that he is a great person to get along with off the ice, which is a good sign that Demidov is fitting in well with the group off ice. It will be exciting to see what Demidov can do this weekend against the Jets and Leafs prospects.

Now onto his possible Rookie Showdown linemate, Florian Xhekaj. Going into the camp, he was listed at 6’3 205 LBS, but Xhekaj admitted that thanks to some home-cooked cooking from his mom and a good workout plan, he added an extra 15 LBS to his body for this season. This extra weight will allow Xhekaj to be even more intimidating on the ice, as well as help him protect the puck on his stick. It will be interesting to see what Xhekaj does with the bigger body in the AHL and possibly even in the NHL alongside his brother, Arber. For now, we will get to see the younger Xhekaj use his body to help him get noticed by the Habs brass by being a physical force. Florian understands that it will be tough to make the Canadiens, but he’s ready for the challenge at camp to show management that he belongs.

Defenseman David Reinbacher had a chance to show his very strong shot during a couple of drills at Thursday’s practice. Reinbacher will be fighting for a role in the NHL at Training Camp this year, but if he wants to make the team, he will need to beat out a few older veterans like Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj. Even then, he would probably need to have a near-perfect camp to actually push one of these guys out of the lineup.

Can Reinbacher accomplish this hard task and make the team as early as this season?

Will there be another player that shines in Day 3, or will it still be the same players that shine yet again?