Canadiens have a blue-chip prospect in Owen Protz, his former junior GM says
While few can predict how prospects will handle the transition from junior hockey to the professional game, Owen Protz’s former general manager has no doubt the physical defenceman has a bright future in the NHL.
“I believe he’s going to translate to pro hockey incredibly fast and incredibly well,” Spencer Hyman, GM and president of hockey operations for the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs, told The Gazette by telephone this week. “I think he’s going to be a great player for the Montreal Canadiens. He might start in (AHL) Laval but one day, whenever that comes, I think he’s going to be a player Montreal’s really proud to say they selected in the fourth round — and a player they come away feeling really good about with that pick.”
Protz, 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds, is one of 23 players — including seven defencemen — invited to the Canadiens’ rookie camp, which begins Friday morning with a practice in Brossard before exhibition games Saturday and Sunday in Gatineau against prospects with Winnipeg and Ottawa, respectively.
