Olympic Break Top 10 Habs Prospects: #8 LJ Mooney

For someone like Mooney, he will need to earn himself an offensive role within a team’s top 9 to become an NHL player. In reality, Mooney is a boom-or-bust prospect, as he is a high-potential prospect that comes with a ton of skill, but at the same time, his size is still considered an issue that brings questions on whether or not he will be able to be successful at the pro level. This is why the Habs were able to get him late in the 4th round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. The fact that the Canadiens have had success developing similar types of players to Mooney certainly helps the belief that he could seriously become a player for them one day.

The perfect example of one of these guys that made it is Brendan Gallagher, who was drafted in the 5th round of the 2010 NHL Draft as an undersized, skilled but gritty winger by the Habs, and he’s still going strong after 13 NHL seasons. Yes, Gallagher’s body has worn down over the past few seasons, but that gritty style of play that he has brought throughout his time in Montreal that earned him his spot is why he is still going strong. Mooney, like Gallagher, has that feistiness in his game and may even have more pure skill in his game as a playmaker.

The Habs prospect is not afraid to hit players much bigger than him and could potentially go to the net like Gallagher, but he has yet to be given that type of role at Minnesota. Currently, his role on the power play is him playing the perimeter to set up his teammates for goals. In all honesty, the fact that he doesn’t play in front of the net may hurt his value in terms of becoming the inevitable replacement to Gallagher. The truth is we don’t know much about how he would handle the cross-checks in front of the net like Gallagher has.

With that being said, it does knock his potential of playing for the Canadiens one day, but at the same time, the reason for his placement on the power play is because he is one of the best playmakers on the Minnesota Gophers. It will be interesting to see if Mooney can truly fill the shoes of Gallagher; of course, that will include the punishment in front of the net. Although, to be honest, due to his size, he would probably be better suited playing as a quarterback with his skill on a 2nd power play unit someday. Meanwhile, the Habs could use a bigger player in the front of the net.

As mentioned earlier, Mooney is listed as my 8th best prospect, as he has less chance of being an NHLer than the majority ahead of him, but at the same time, he is definitely more skilled than 1 or 2 of the players ahead of him. I was going back & forth on who should be 7th and who should be 8th between Mooney and Owen Beck. However, due to pro games and the likelihood of making the NHL as of today, I gave Beck the edge over Mooney. As a result, Mooney will stay as the 8th best prospect in the Habs pipeline.

Check out the article on the #9 prospect Florian Xhekaj by clicking here.

Do you have Beck ahead of Mooney as well, or does Mooney’s skill put him ahead for you?