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Quality right-shot defencemen are hard to come by which is why the Habs paid big to land Noah Dobson last year.  Meanwhile, they’ve been trying to stock up their prospect pool in the hopes of getting a player or two from there down the road.

We’re going to try something a little different this year.  Rather than do five-player segments, we’re going to go position by position and then do a full 1-49 prospect ranking at the end.  While some players can play their off-side, for simplicity, we’ll strictly look at handedness to sort through the blueliners.

Overview

Here are the criteria that each player had to meet to be eligible to be in these rankings:

1) The player must be 24 years old or younger as of October 1, 2026
2) The player must have no greater than 50 games of NHL experience (including regular season and playoffs)
3) The player cannot be signed to an AHL contract

Right-Shot Defencemen

1) David Reinbacher, Laval (AHL)
Drafted 5th overall in 2023.

With Reinbacher, there will always be that question of ‘what if’?  What if they drafted Matvei Michkov instead?  (Or Ryan Leonard, for that matter, who’d probably fit Montreal’s roster better than Michkov.)  But two-way right-shot defenders are one of the hardest things to find which is why Montreal took him fifth overall and why several teams tried to trade up to get him before they did.

It would be fair to say that Reinbacher’s development hasn’t gone smoothly.  Injuries were a problem in his post-draft year and in North America, he can’t seem to get through the preseason unscathed.  But last season was reasonably close to a full year development-wise and I think the organization is pretty pleased with how it went.

Reinbacher took on a bigger role with Laval, becoming an all-situations player for them at times.  On the one hand, that should be expected of a player drafted this high but defencemen typically require a more gradual development curve and he’s only 21.  More runway is needed.

Where he gets that runway is a question.  To put it quickly, Reinbacher could handle third-pairing NHL minutes this coming season.  But is that better than playing 22 or so minutes per night in Laval?  His skating still needs improvement and some of his man-on-man coverage left some concerns so I think there’s still value in more time with the Rocket.  On the whole, however, his development, though stunted at times, is still going reasonably well.

Reinbacher might not be a top-pairing blueliner in the NHL and for a number-five pick, that’s not ideal.  But with Dobson in the fold long-term, he doesn’t need to be that for the Habs.  I’d say he’s on track to be a quality two-way second-pairing player and still be a part of Montreal’s core moving forward.

2) Bryce Pickford, Laval (AHL)
Drafted 81st overall in 2025.

Pickford’s final WHL season couldn’t have gone much better.  With there being questions about how much his offence was fueled by being on a stacked team (including 2026 top pick Gavin McKenna), he put that to rest quickly.  He had 47 points in his draft year (his second season of eligibility) but had 45 goals last season.  45 goals…as a defenceman.  That’s not a combo you see too often, especially when the player had a shoulder injury.

Pickford is a reasonable skater and plays with an edge which is good although his defensive game is a little immature.  He goes for the big hit too often and with added emphasis on systems play in the pros, being a system-buster could be problematic.  But the raw overall talent, especially offensively, is tantalizing.

His recent shoulder surgery is going to take out a decent-sized chunk of his rookie pro season which will set him back a bit development-wise.  But while it might take a year or two, it’s hard to bet against Pickford playing his way into an NHL opportunity before too long; his offence alone should give him a shot in a sixth or seventh role.  If the rest of his game comes together, the ceiling is higher than that.

3) Timofei Runtso, Miami (Ohio) (NCAA)
Drafted 57th overall in 2026.

Another player not drafted in his first year of eligibility (get used to seeing that in this piece), my understanding is that the Habs had Runtso in or around the top 32 on their list this year.  That’s not to say he had a first-round grade necessarily but the scouts were high on him, leading to a trade-up on Day 2 to get him.  Going from a lesser league (the NAHL) to a more established one (the WHL) made a huge difference in his evaluation.

At this point, the offence is ahead of the defence and given that last season was his first exposure to higher-level competition, his game is more raw and toolsy than it should be for a draft-plus-one player.  That means there’s more risk but the reward is also higher.  If his skill development continues and his defensive game comes around, he’s a potential fourth defender with above-average skating for his size.  That’s a profile that is especially appealing given how hard it is to find capable righties.

It wouldn’t shock me if Runtso actually takes a small step back this season as he adapts to another increase in competition level against more mature players and then starts to work his way up from there.  As a result, he might be three years away from turning pro.

4) Bogdan Konyushkov, Torpedo (KHL)
Drafted 110th overall in 2023.

Last season was a nice bounce-back year for the 23-year-old, who inked an extension early on to extend his stay in Russia.  He logged more than 21 minutes per game and had a career-best 38 points.  So, why is he down here?

For starters, he’s not the best of skaters and given the higher tempo that the Habs play with, that could be an issue.  He’s also not exactly physical either, registering all of six hits on the season.  That’s understandable given that he’s 6’0, not 6’3, but given what Montreal seems to be looking for from their depth defenders, he doesn’t necessarily fit the profile.

In an organization with a lot of pieces already in place, a high-floor player doesn’t exactly stand out.  But he’s not far off from being NHL-ready; had he not extended with Torpedo last year (making it so that he has to play there this season even after signing with Montreal), he could have pushed for a spot in camp.  Konyushkov is a solid enough defensive defender that I think he could handle 14-16 minutes per night in the NHL pretty quickly and help kill penalties.  Right now, there’s a need for that type of player.  But if those ahead of him pan out, the need will be short-term.

5) Cooper Cleaves, Dartmouth (NCAA)
Drafted 93rd overall in 2026.

The fourth player in a row on this list who didn’t go in his first year of eligibility, Cleaves joins Konyushkov on the list of those who didn’t go in their second year either.  The Habs took a look at him at Development Camp last year and liked what they saw enough to keep tabs on him.  A solid freshman year in college helped get him picked.

I noted in the Konyushkov write-up that he doesn’t fit what the Canadiens seem to want from their depth players on the back end.  Cleaves does.  He profiles as a big shutdown defender with a physical edge which is exactly what they’re asking for from Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble.  It’s fully plausible that they believe that Cleaves can fill one of those spots down the road if all goes well development-wise.

Given that Cleaves didn’t get a lot of reps against quality competition in the past (he was a high school player in his draft year), there’s an overall rawness to his game.  That means some potential for a bit more upside although his overall ceiling is probably a third-pairing player regardless.

6) Carlos Handel, Kolner Haie (DEL)
Drafted 177th overall in 2025.

Considering he held his own at the World Juniors and quarterbacked a power play unit in his draft year on a decent Halifax team, Handel looked like a possible early steal a year ago.  Things didn’t go as well last season, however.

It’s fair to say Handel’s development stagnated.  He largely played the same role he had before with a bit less offensive success.  The one bright spot was his performance at the World Juniors but that was all of five games.

A mobile defender who is willing to jump into the rush, there are some skills to work with.  But Handel needs to get better defensively and fill out his frame.  Playing against men back home after leaving junior hockey will be a test but if he can handle it, he can move back up the rankings a little bit while the move extends Montreal’s draft rights.

7) Ethan Samson, Laval (AHL)
Signed in free agency in 2026.

It was a little surprising to see Samson go non-tendered by Tampa Bay last month.  It’s not that he was a great player for AHL Syracuse but as far as serviceable third-pairing players go, he did a decent job.  Letting that type of player walk at 22 is something you don’t see every day.

Samson was an offence-first player in junior but that type of success hasn’t materialized in the pros.  His defensive game has come along since then while he is good enough offensively to provide a bit of secondary production or even cover time on the second power play unit.  He profiles as a regular for Laval next season but it would be surprising to see him move up any further than that.

8) Andrew MacNiel, Kitchener (OHL)
Drafted 189th overall in 2025.

MacNiel’s selection was a bit of a head-scratcher last year, given that he was coming off a year where he wasn’t even playing regularly.  The Habs were again chasing size and physicality and the hope was that he’d have a breakout showing in 2025-26.  By drafting him where they did, that would be better than spending a higher pick in 2026 to draft him after that breakout.

The breakout didn’t happen.  Instead, he had a very limited role on a very deep Rangers squad, one that made it to the Memorial Cup.  He played regularly, albeit with limited minutes during that run and held his own.  If he gets the bigger role this coming season, he could still take a step forward in his development.  But as it stands, he’s tracking toward not being signed by the June 1st deadline.  If he can find a college team before then, Montreal can hold onto him a little longer.

9) Dmitri Kostenko, Amur Khabarovsk (KHL)
Drafted 87th overall in 2021.

A prospect by technical definition only at this point, Kostenko isn’t expected to get an offer to come to North America and join the Habs.  He spent a couple of years in Russia’s second-tier division before going to Slovakia last year.  He’s hoping to get back to a regular KHL role in 2026-27 but that won’t be enough to get signed.  He’ll age off this list next year while Montreal will hold his rights indefinitely since there’s no Player Transfer Agreement between the NHL and the Russian Hockey Federation.

10) Daniil Sobolev, Spartak (KHL)
Drafted 142nd overall in 2021.

Sobolev also won’t be getting signed by the Habs and his presence here is merely technical as well.  He was able to play fairly regularly in the KHL last season, albeit in a limited role.  While Kostenko has some reasonable offensive tools, Sobolev is a true shutdown player with a lot of limitations otherwise.  This pick didn’t pan out.