Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher will be looking to prove they’re ready to defend at the NHL level.
The focus will be on young defencemen when players hit the ice for the first time at Canadiens training camp Thursday morning in Brossard.
The big question for the young defencemen is whether they’re ready to defend at the NHL level.
The Canadiens will play their first two preseason games Monday and Tuesday at the Bell Centre against the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils. Ramage noted that the key for the young defencemen during training camp is to focus on each day and not get too far ahead of themselves.
“Young defencemen, you can end up digging the puck out of your net a lot if you get ahead of yourself and they’re very conscious of that,” Ramage said.
“I haven’t seen him on the dance floor … he’s probably pretty good,” Ramage added with a smile.
Hutson had 15-34-49 totals in 38 games last season at Boston University and a plus/minus differential of plus-14. Ramage described Hutson’s defensive play as like a dog on a bone.
“This kid is just relentless,” Ramage said. “You see the effort every shift. He leaves it out there every shift and that’s going to help him defending. Because even if he does get beat, there’s going to be a second effort trying to get back into the play and then kill that play.”
At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Mailloux can use size to his advantage while playing defence.
Ramage said he was proud to see Mailloux wearing the “C” as captain for the two games on the weekend.
Last season wasn’t so good for Reinbacher, who had 1-10-11 totals and was minus-15 in 35 games with EHC Kloten in the Swiss National League. Reinbacher suffered two injuries — one to his knee and another to his hand — and Kloten went through three head coaches before finishing 13th in the 14-team league with a 17-29-6 record.
“He faced some adversity, which isn’t a bad thing,” Ramage said about the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Reinbacher. “It’s going to happen during his career. I found his game last year at (training) camp mature. He was more mature on the ice than he was off the ice. Off the ice has caught up this year.”