The Montreal Canadiens rookie camp started on Wednesday morning, when the players had to go through medical and physical tests. Today, this band of merry men jumped on the ice surface of the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard for the first time. To guide them, Jean-François Houle could count on Francis Bouillon and Rob Ramage, among others.
That said, Jesse Ylonen, whom everyone was waiting for because of his potential "to maybe start the season in Montreal", or at least leave a nice calling card, was conspicuous by his absence. The American-Finnish was not there, but he should be there tomorrow (Friday)... But where is he?
About Mattias Norlinder, the current darling of the Montreal Canadiens' young players, he impressed many with his clean, precise and very sharp shot. Without getting too excited, he has several assets that allow us to believe that he could become one of the defenseman to activate Montreal' defense.
Another thing we saw was the leadership of Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who guided the warm-up period of the muscles. RHP was a captain with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Chicoutimi Saguenéens, so it's natural for him to do so.
By the way, the kids looked very motivated this morning from this video, where you can see a very high intensity level.
