I'm happy that Dalton Thrower was signed to his entry-level contract by the Canadiens, he took a giant step in his development with the Vancouver Giants last season. The papers and Coach Don Hay couldn't say enough good things about him all season. I didn't get a chance to see him live, but listened to a few game broadcasts, and he was all over the place, the play-by-play guys made it clear he was the leader of that team, in every aspect.
He suffered from bad luck with an ankle injury that ended his season. He tried to rehab it and come back, but upon his return to the ice he either aggravated the injury, or it was never right to begin with, and had to undergo surgery. I wondered whether that was playing a part in the delay in signing him, if Canadiens management wanted to have a talk with the doctors treating him, give themselves some time before committing.
If the team had decided to not lock him up, I would have had to trust their evaluation, but it's obviously preferable that a second-round pick stays within the organization and gets a chance to pan out. It's better than the alternative, that we walk away from our draftees because they're too faint a hope of ever making it.
Of course, that means another rightie defence prospect on the farm, with Greg Pateryn, Morgan Ellis, Darren Dietz and possibly Magnus Nygren. So almost too many. We're struggling now with too many lefties on the blue line on the Grand Club, but in a couple seasons it probably won't be an issue any more.
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