2025-26 Prospect Stock Watch: Stock Up
Even after graduating several prospects to the NHL in recent years, the Habs still have one of the deeper prospect pools in the league. Some of those have had particularly strong seasons to improve their stock within the organization.
For the purpose of this column, we’re not going to focus on the strong prospects who are having strong years. For example, Michael Hage is doing well but his stock was already high. Alexander Zharovsky is having a very nice season but was already viewed as one of their top offensive prospects. While his stock is up, it’s probably not a huge increase relative to some of Montreal’s lesser-known youngsters. While we didn’t have a preseason prospect rankings column, the group of players here are those who wouldn’t have been in the top ten to start the season.
G Alexis Cournoyer (Cornell, NCAA) – He was a big wild card heading into the year. He had a great second half in the QMJHL last season but that was his only taste of action in major junior. Was it repeatable, especially at a higher level of competition? So far, it looks like it is. Granted, the ECAC is not the highest-scoring conference in college hockey but he has been the second-best netminder among those teams and has already assumed the starting role in his freshman year. There is a long way to go in Cournoyer’s development window (especially given the limited exposure to junior hockey before this season) but it won’t be long before you see the term ‘sleeper pick’ associated with his name.
G Emmett Croteau (Dartmouth, NCAA) – A lot of what was just said about Cournoyer could be said here. He’s also in the ECAC and he has taken over as the starter. Croteau has also spent a big chunk of the year in the top 15 in save percentage in all of Division I. The big difference is that this improvement is being made in his junior year. After a freshman year in which he barely played and a better but still quiet sophomore campaign, Croteau has gone from being a fringe prospect to one to monitor again. Notably, he is eligible to deregister from school and become a free agent this summer. Otherwise, the Habs have his rights through mid-August 2027.
F L.J. Mooney (Minnesota, NCAA) – While Mooney was a point-per-game player with the US NTDP last season, there were always going to be questions heading into his freshman year in college. For starters, how would he hold up given his smaller stature? And would he be able to produce in a top-six role? So far, he’s holding up just fine. He’s one of the leading scorers on the Golden Gophers and is able to find the time and space to use his high-end playmaking even against bigger and stronger competition. He didn’t look out of place at the World Juniors either. Realistically, his size is always going to be a question mark when it comes to assessing his pro potential but it’s hard to ask for him to be doing much more than he has this season.
D Bryce Pickford (Medicine Hat, WHL) – Easily the player on this list who has generated the most attention this season, Pickford is showing that last season’s offensive outburst on a loaded offensive team wasn’t just matchable but rather beatable. Prior to a recent injury that has kept him out for the better part of a month, Pickford was one of the WHL’s top scorers in terms of points, not just among defencemen but rather all players. Yes, he’s not going to be a volume shooter in the pros as he is now and yes, his defensive game still needs some work. But Pickford more than earned his entry-level deal and has quickly become one of Montreal’s more intriguing prospects.
F Logan Sawyer (Providence, NCAA) – The decision to make the jump to college last season seemed a little iffy as he had a fairly quiet year overall in a limited role. However, he learned that he needed to bulk up and was much better prepared for his sophomore year. The end result is that he has already doubled his goal total from last season and is in a tight battle for the team lead in scoring with Anaheim first-rounder Roger McQueen. After losing a bit of shine on his stock last season, Sawyer has gained it back and then some in 2025-26.
G Yevgeni Volokhin (Khimik, VHL) – After being hung out to dry a lot of nights with KHL Sochi last season, Volokhin has spent most of the season playing at the second-tier VHL level. He has been nothing short of dominant, to the point of meriting another opportunity in the KHL before long. (He might have to wait a while to get that chance, however, given the depth in front of him with Spartak.) Volokhin is still a longer-term project and is signed overseas through the 2027-28 campaign but after a disappointing performance last season, he has bounced back quite nicely.