HabsWorld.net -- 

With October having come and gone, the first full month of hockey is now in
the books.  It was a positive month throughout the organization as the Habs
got off to a strong start in the standings while the Bulldogs also picked up a
few points along the way while several of their junior-based prospects had strong months
as well.  Which prospects rose to the top to earn
one of our 3 Stars for October?

Hamilton Bulldogs

1st Star: Sven Andrighetto – Now converted to a centre
full-time, the Swiss forward quickly took to his new role and found himself
centering the top line most nights.  Andrighetto picked up where he left
off last season in terms of his offence and was Hamilton’s biggest scoring
threat in October.  Teams are going to be planning to shut him down more
and more so it will be interesting to see how he adapts to tighter checking as
the season progresses.

Stats: 8 GP, 4 goals, 2 assists, 6 points, +3 rating, 30 shots, 4 PIMS

2nd Star: Charles Hudon – Hudon was my pick for
rookie to watch this
season and he certainly hasn’t disappointed.  He has been on a few
different line combos already (it’s not just Michel Therrien who changes the
lines frequently) and his hockey sense helps him mesh with his new linemates
pretty quickly.  I’m not sure he’s going to maintain the offensive pace
that he’s on currently but if he can keep holding his own as a top six forward,
that will be great for his development.

Stats: 8 GP, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points, +6 rating, 13 shots, 6 PIMS

3rd Star: Gabriel Dumont – A few years ago, many thought of
former Bulldog blueliner Frederic St-Denis as ‘Steady Freddy’.  Although it
wouldn’t rhyme here, it’s time to apply that label to Dumont.  His effort
level seldom gets called into question and he can be counted on to provide a
reliable level of offence as he did last month.  His NHL future still
doesn’t look promising but he’s a solid depth player in the organization for
sure.

Stats: 8 GP, 3 goals, 2 assists, 5 points -1 rating, 20 shots, 19 PIMS

Honourable Mention: Michael Bournival – After sitting for so
long, the Habs decided to send Bournival down a couple of times on what
essentially were conditioning stints to work the rust off and stay in game
shape.  Not only did he do that, he wound up being a very important player
for the Bulldogs, playing on the top line and on both the PP and PK.  It
was a small sample size for sure but nonetheless it was nice to see that he can
still play well when given a chance.

Stats: 4 GP, 1 goal, 3 assists, 4 points, +3 rating, 14 shots, 2 PIMS

Other Prospects

1st Star: Michael McCarron (London, OHL) – Given what happened
last year and the fact he was coming back from an injury sustained back in the
preseason with Montreal, it would have been fair to anticipate a slow start to
McCarron’s sophomore junior season.  The exact opposite happened – instead
of having a small impact early on, he has played a huge role for the Knights
this year, playing on their top line and both special teams situations. 
There’s a little more cautious optimism when it comes to the 2013 first rounder
now.

Stats: 7 GP, 4 goals, 12 assists, 16 points, +7 rating, 17 PIMS

2nd Star: Nikita Scherbak (Everett, WHL) – Like McCarron, a
slow start for Scherbak could reasonably have been expected since Montreal’s top
pick in 2014 found himself traded during the preseason and had basically no time
to practice with his new team before seeing game action.  Instead, Scherbak
picked up right where he left off from last year, quickly becoming Everett’s
most dangerous forward and a mainstay on the top line

Stats: 10 GP, 7 goals, 9 assists, 16 points, +5 rating, 8 PIMS

3rd Star: Daniel Audette (Sherbrooke, QMJHL) – Audette was a
point producer last year and he has continued that early on this season, posting
the most points of any Montreal prospect.  He’s in this spot (and not the
top two though) as a result of most of his production coming with the man
advantage where it’s a lot easier to pile on the numbers.  Nonetheless,
October was a strong month for Audette who certainly isn’t hurting his case in
trying to get noticed for the World Junior team (although he’s a longshot at
best to make it to their training camp).

Stats: 11 GP, 11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points (14 PP points), -2
rating, 14 PIMS, 32 shots, 48.6% faceoff percentage

Honourable Mention: Jake Evans (Notre Dame, NCAA) – There were
a few worthy candidates but I’m going off the board a little.  Evans’
college career started off slowly but after the first couple of weeks, his play
improved considerably and he started seeing more and more ice time, including
special teams time.  Freshmen aren’t supposed to have huge roles and this
hot streak he had towards the end of the month is likely just that, a short-term
streak, but he’s off to a promising start nonetheless, especially for a 7th
rounder.

Stats: 7 GP, 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points, +4 rating, 6 PIMS, 14 shots