Montreal Canadiens should call up Ryan Poehling

The Montreal Canadiens sent top prospect Ryan Poehling to the Laval Rocket just before the season began, sparking controversy over the Canadiens prospect.

Before having to recover from a concussion suffered this preseason, Ryan Poehling was almost a lock for the Montreal Canadiens roster. Poehling, having only played one NHL game at the end of Montreal’s season last year, has been a bright spot for an organization that has seen their past decade’s homegrown talent spread across the league.

Poehling wasn’t too fond of being sent down, having commented about the disappointment this early in career. But the move made sense for the Habs to keep their main roster intact, and not having to risk sending a player through waivers before the NHL’s roster deadline. Poehling’s concussion certainly played a part in it as well.

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But now we’re six games into the young 82 game season and the Canadiens have a mid-ranged record of 2-2-2, good enough to be tied for the second-worst record in the Atlantic Division.

The Canadiens fourth line hasn’t produced much. While the Habs are trying to be patient with Poehling, Nate Thompson just takes up space, despite having two assists on the year.

Centers Phillip Danault, Max Domi, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have held their own, leaving one final slot where Poehling would fit in perfectly. The new-age NHL focuses on having four balanced lines and giving young rookies a chance, just like Poehling.

In his only NHL game to date, he has an NHL hat-trick and looked dominate in what was a very, very small sample size. Something that has to be eating at the Habs for what can be their version of a Calder candidate, like Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Connor McDavid, and Elias Pettersson have done for the rest of Canada’s seven NHL franchises.

While taking the time to let Poehling develop will be important to the future of Montreal, with the way their defense is playing, the AHL is not the place for Poehling. Giving him NHL minutes to start the season will help him adjust to the faster game, and hopefully give the Canadiens more scoring to bail out the back end.

The Canadiens season hasn’t started the way most would have hoped, especially for Montreal finishing so close to a playoff spot last season. But it’s still early, and if the Canadiens make the move to call Poehling up now, it would benefit their team in the long haul.