QMJHL: Montreal Back to the Future

After acquiring the St-John's Fog Devils and moving them to Montreal, team owner Farrel Miller settled on the name Montreal Juniors, as a tribute to the history of junior hockey in the Montreal area. The team has a solid nucleus of veterans such as Jake Allen, Luke Adam, Angelo Esposito and Nick Layton, but a few youngsters have also contributed the team's success. McKeen's contributor Rick Springhetti looks at a few prospects from the Montreal Juniors.

Pier-Antoine Dion (2009), LW/C, Montreal

Hard-working player, he is not afraid to go to the net and is hard to move away from there once he gets his feet planted .. manages to hold onto the puck in the corners and along the boards by working hard and moving his body around to shield the puck .. possesses quick hands to get shots on goal from up-close .. only has average shooting strength but he does generally get it on the net .. very choppy skating stride, he gets into penalty trouble at times when he is caught flatfooted .. does not have much vision on the ice, especially when it comes to the passing game .. receives second unit pp time and occasionally the first unit as well.

Alex Wall (2009), D, Montreal

Excellent skater, he picks up speed very quickly .. stickhandles the puck very well while keeping his head up .. capable of spotting open teammates and distributes the puck promptly .. very precise wristshot but he needs to start using it more often .. is very effective in his own zone when he uses his speed and smarts to neutralize the opposition, but suffers from brain cramps at times .. he does not react quickly enough to the oppositions play, so he gets caught flat-footed .. will need to get physically stronger in order to handle some of the bigger forwards .. will also need to develop more urgency to his game, as he seems very passive at times .. was used on the powerplay and penalty kill, but at times, he has also been benched this season.

Louis-Marc Aubry (2010), C, Montreal

At 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds, he has very good size, which he uses to get into the slot .. very agile hands, he can either get a shot off quickly or go up high .. very quick release, especially on his wristshot .. distributes the puck well to his wingers with safe passes but has trouble spotting teamates that are further away from him .. average skating stride but this should improve as he continues to gain some strength .. defensively, he will need to improve his reads, as he tends to spend too much time looking around and trying to figure out how to react to plays .. will not shy away from physical play but one would like to see him initiate more contact ..still needs to improve his success rate in the faceoff circle (48.8% ) .. may be better suited to play on the wing.

Guillaume Asselin (2011), RW, Montreal

Excellent skater, he keeps his body low and his head is up at all times, which gives him a very good center of gravity .. sees the ice very well, as he is able to get a pass out in a hurry when he spots an open teammate .. demonstrates very good hockey sense in the offensive zone, as he seems to know at all times where the next scoring opportunity will be .. although he is a very young player, he is not intimated by anyone, showing a lot of feistiness in his game and is usually involved in any scrum that develops .. has trouble committing himself to the defensive side of the game, often not coming back quick enough to support his teammates at his end of the ice .. his ceiling is very high and many feel he may contend for the scoring title as soon as next season.