On day three of development camp, Montreal Canadiens’ prospects took part in a scrimmage. For two 25-minute periods, the youngsters went at it with a lot of jump and energy. Generally, there was more speed and more highlights than a year ago. The presence of Alexander Zharovsky, who skated alongside L.J. Mooney, certainly didn’t hurt.

While Zharovsky and Mooney linked up all over the ice, Michael Hage found himself on Team White and with Logan Sawyer as his running mate. The two duos were often pitted against each other and showed some real promise. Hage has great playmaking skills but can also be patient with the puck to find the back of the net. He was, however, rocked by a Thomas Rousseau hit in the first, which sent him to the ice. The centerman was good at finding his teammates in space, but they couldn’t always convert. He ended the game with a pair of goals, just like Sawyer.

As for Mooney, he picked up right where he left off last summer. The 5-foot-7 and 169-pound winger (he put up over 10 pounds since last year – without losing speed, he adds) was everywhere on the ice with an active stick, often stripping his opponents of the puck, including one grand larceny on Hage. The diminutive forward is quite energetic on the ice and just won’t take no for an answer. If he doesn’t get the puck off you the first time around, he will just try again until he does. He seemed to really enjoy himself playing alongside Zharovsky: “It was awesome; didn’t get to see him at camp last year. Just being around him, seeing how he plays, it’s pretty sick, so it was fun to play with him today.”

Given his physique, Mooney was also asked how inspiring it was to see what Cole Caufield accomplished this season: “Watching him has been unreal! I mean, that’s pretty cool to see. […] You always hear it [how hard it is to be a smaller player], and then you see him put up 50 goals, you see what he has done, what other smaller guys have done. I think people can keep saying it, but I don’t think it really affects anything.”

In the shootout after the scrimmage, the youngster drew inspiration from Martin St-Louis: “I tried that a couple of times this year, Mooney said, I mean, he’s on every highlight shootout video there is, so just seeing that…I think it gets the goalie a little bit.”

Hayden Paupanekis, who missed last year’s camp because of a bout with mononucleosis, had everyone on the lookout on the ice. At 6-foot-5 and 208 pounds, he was a menace, and nobody wanted to be obliterated with the whole of the Habs’ brass looking on. The big man showed he could do more than that, though, scoring a goal on Quentin Miller. The CHL product confirmed that he will be playing in St. Cloud State in the NCAA next season: “There were a lot of factors in that decision, said Paupanekis, I think just playing with older guys, and that’s the next step for me. I want to obviously play in the NHL one day, so I think just leveling up every year will be good for me, so it’s going to be a fun time there”.

As for the fact that he had to miss rookie camp last year, he explained: “Oh my gosh, yeah, missing rookie camp was brutal. I was watching on my phone the rookie camp and the Bell Centre was just rocking; I was really jealous, and I missed out, but there’s nothing I could do there.” With his physique, if he can improve his foot speed and skating, he could become a really interesting player. Paupanekis explained that he looks up to Josh Anderson’s style of play and even though he’s never met him yet, he hopes to one day play on a line with him.

With development camp now in the books, the Canadiens can focus on getting better for next season, whether through internal growth, free-agent signings, or a trade. With his to-do list, there’s no doubt that Kent Hughes will be a busy man, but he’s at least taken care of two important pieces of business by inking both Ivan Demidov and Jakub Dobes to contract extensions.

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