Habster’s take:
Pavel Valentenko will start the season in Hamilton but don’t be surprised if you see him in a Habs uniform before the end of this upcoming season. With the exception of Alexei Emelin and Ryan O’Bryne, Valentenko is the next NHL ready prospect on defense(even at the tender age of 19) and Trevor Timmins is extremely high on this player. Valentenko plays an aggressive North American style of play and has a pretty good skill set. His strengths are along the board containment, clearing the front of the net and he loves to move up on forwards for the big hit. He is just starting to show more offensive flair but that is not his area of strength.
At the development camp, he looked good but wasn’t in top form as he hasn’t been on the ice since late April when the RSL finished its season. It might take an injury but I’m confident he will be called up during the season and will adapt easily to the NHL (with some mistakes here or there!!!).
Good call on Valentenko, Habster. He and Mathieu Carle will surprise a lot of people this year. I think they could jump ahead of O’Byrne pretty quickly. If they do it in training camp, the team will likely deal O’Byrne since there are a few teams out there who would covet his size and agressiveness on their bluelines.
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