Reviewing the World Juniors with Hadi Kalakeche

Hadi Kalakeche of EliteProspects and Eyes on the Prize, joins the podcast to talk about the Montreal Canadiens prospects in the tournament.

• Mikus Vecvanags
  “He faced 41 shots, allowed 8 goals. I mean, there’s only so much you can do with Latvia in front of you. Overall, I thought that the Latvians tried their best to kind of get bodies in front of shots.”
  “He’s lower down the pecking order of the goalies I like within the Habs system. There’s a lot of other guys that are doing really well. Obviously, Jacob Fowler, but Alexis Cournoyer, Quentin Miller both of them are playing really well in the NCAA right now.”

• Carlos Händel
  “The concern with Händel remains that he hasn’t learned to handle defend forechecking pressure. And that’s still something he’s struggling with at a QMJHL level, it’s going to be even tougher for him to scale that up to the AHL or NHL level. And that’s a key, key part of being able to be a defenseman in the pros.”
  “With Händel, there’s a lot of inconsistencies. At times, the skating looks like his best strength, and at times, he doesn’t really move his feet all that much, so there’s still a lot to work on with this game.”

• Aatos Koivu
  “What he brings to the game, he has a ridiculous shot. He’s able to just wire it from the half wall. It’s all about what he can build around that, right? And it’s all about compounding good decisions that lead you to those spots, because that’s what works in the NHL. That’s how good scorers become great scorers in the NHL. You stack good decisions on top of each other and build a skill set around that.”
  “I haven’t seen that yet from Koivu, but I think with time, this type of prospect, with this type of pedigree, with a dad who played, who’s a legend in Montreal, there’s extra incentive.”

• L.J. Mooney
  “The thing with Mooney that’s really impressive is just he’s always moving his feet. And it’s ridiculous at which rate he’s active with his feet. And that leads a lot of his game. The issue is how do you bring that to a level where you’re able to create the same way in the NHL? Because you can’t move your feet the entire time in the NHL. You need to be able to modulate your pace, to adjust, you know, slow down, speed up, accelerate, decelerate. Being able to do that at an NHL level is going to be very, very tough for LJ. Mooney,”
  “If his physical game doesn’t scale up, you lose a bit of that dynamism, a bit of that ability to create at high speeds like he does. It’s going to be a very curious case study, and another player like Aatos Koivu, who is probably going to take a bit more time to get to where he needs to be and what a ceiling is.

• Michael Hage
  “We were having these conversations a lot internally at Elite Prospects as the tournament was going on, especially the semi-final game, which was a heartbreak for Canada against Czechia. What really stood out with Hage is just he’s a player who… loves getting 80% of the way to a highlight reel goal. He’s always so close to scoring that highlight reel goal.
  He’s just missing that extra 20% at the very end of it. Dynamic, elusive, really smart. He sees things really well. But his contact game needs to expand in order to play a central role in the NHL. We saw at this tournament, Hage wasn’t as effective down the middle. He was more effective as the brains of the operation from an F3 position.”

Then the podcast moves on to the discussion about Ivar Stenberg or Gavin McKenna as number one in the 2026 NHL Draft, with a few other names that can challenge though the rest of the season.