LJ Mooney: His future may not be in Montreal

That said, perhaps the future of the main interested party lies elsewhere than in Montreal.

Because Mathias Brunet and the Snake are right in one sense: the Habs already have a few small players. Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson aren’t big, and in the NHL, you can’t win with a small team.

We’ve seen it time and again in recent years, after all.

Simon Boisvert sees Mooney establishing himself as a potential third-trio player… if he has two big wingers next to him to surround him in the right way.

And I don’t hate that projection, because it’s true that Mooney has the qualities of a guy who can fill a chair like that. 3rd trio center, a few minutes on the power play per game…

But with all the youngsters growing up in Montreal, it might be hard for Mooney to fit in and shine the way he’d like to. The Habs have guys like Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky coming up… and we know that the young guys in the club right now – Suzuki, Bolduc, Caufield, Slaf and Demidov – are here to stay.

It’s going to get interesting, to put it another way. Because, in reality, maybe Mooney can become an interesting piece of the puzzle for a trade if he continues to develop properly.

The good news? The CH still has time to make a decision with him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stay two more years (after the current season) in the NCAA to improve his tool bag… and if that happens, Kent Hughes will have plenty of time to see what he wants to do with his prospect.

Breaking news

– Oh.

– Nice goal.

– Yes.

– His smile is contagious.