O'B-ournival Big D Traded For Q Prospect

A mere week ago I asked if it was the end for Ryan O'Byrne. And with the amount of times I'm willing to but heads with certain adamant commenters, you must surely all be wondering if you are reading Pierre Gauthier's blog.

Well, that was all just luck and hard-headedness. However, today O'Byrne was indeed at the end of his Canadiens career as he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche (Quebec's other team) for a prospect from the QMJHL.


The positive

There's little to be positive about in O'Byrne's loss. He was a decent defender who was never given a proper chance. But as they didn't just outright lose him, this trade does offer a lot of positive.

The player they received in return, Michel Bournival of the Shawinigan Cataractes, is a proper prospect. He is only 18, he plays in the Quebec league and he is adept enough at scoring to have been taken in the first three rounds of the latest NHL draft. Being as he is from the home province, that bumps him to second round value for the Habs who may be getting a bit worried about their hometown content for future seasons as Mathieu Carle sputters, Olivier Fortier slips, Gabriel Dumont is still small and Maxim Lapierre shows last year's regular season was not a one-time thing. Bournival isn't the future saviour of the Canadiens. The scouting report dug up by Mike Boone says:

"He hasn't been on the radar a whole lot but everybody has the same opinion of him, he's just an excellent hockey player," veteran scout Kevin Prendergast said. "He's not great at anything, but he's good at everything. I think we'll probably want to have a look and see if he's versatile. Can he play the wings as (well) as playing centre too? We think the centre situation is going to be taken, but he's got the kind of hockey sense and the grit that we think he has a chance to maybe be part of the camp."

Not great at anything is never something you want to read, yet it may be the scout's manner, as he also reveals him as an excellent hockey player.

It's almost always the case with prospects anyway that what came before only gives a trend, an idea. Some big-time scorers flop and some small-time scorers soar. You never know. I'd say that at least at this point he is scoring, because if you can't do that in the QMJHL, then where can you? Mentions of work ethic and dedication are encouraging and sometimes mean as much as the scout's read on skating at the end of the day.

Overall, it's a let's see approach. O'Byrne was in the let's not see situation, so we get a prospect for a player whose ticket was already punched. A positive.


The negative

Well, I liked O'Byrne and he wasn't tried or given chance to thrive. It may be seen as another indictment, but then again, maybe the team thought it needed to make place for others it was developing (just don't ever mention Alex Henry, please, please).

The immediate negative is significant, however. If there is an injury or two, then the call-ups are less capable than O'Byrne. Picard has proven he can manage the load for now, which is great. Beyond him, questions arise. I mention Henry. He's not an option in my book. Weber is great going forward, but if he could play D, he'd be on the big team already. Matt Carle? St Denis? Maybe they'll be fine, but I'd expect them to take time that O'Byrne has already taken to learn.

The other drawback may be that 6'5" Dmen are hotter commodities than small forwards who work hard and are good at everything, but great at nothing. Comparing this to raw ores, Gauthier may have just traded the rarer ore for some nickel. We know the Canadiens have been poor to atrocious at developing players. Their reluctance to put extra work into O'Byrne because he could have become a rarity is unfortunate. If the Canadiens ever had the Islanders era Chara, you know he'd have been benched and shipped out for Andre Roy or something.


Overall, I can be happy with the trade. I had reconciled that O'Byrne may have ceased to exist as a Hab at least a week ago, if not earlier. As such, the chance to add to the larder from his trade is good. The fact that player could become a decent player, an interviewee and a media-attention deflector is of some serious value to in this town.

Habs Injured Return: Avoiding O'Ver-expectations

Gionta may be out, Markov may be in rehab, but the cavalry is coming.

The cavalry in the immediate sense consists of hapless Georges Laraque (who admittedly will be a minor upgrade over even more hapless Greg Stewart) and Ryan O'Byrne.

Ryan O'Byrne had a very nice training camp as you all know, and elevated his game to the point we had all penciled him into our aspirational lineup charts. But more than training camp ever could, his recent lay-off has elevated him to new heights. At first, it was merely an alternate defenceman, but as time went by and Habs fans needed better excuses for losing, O'Byrne became one of the three top 6 defencemen that were supposedly out of the lineup.

There's nothing wrong with a bit of hype for the opposition, but it's when you start believing your own hype that things can go awry. In this case, judging from the chatter, many Habs fans have bought their own hype, along with several extra installments for the future. Ryan O'Byrne may well be a top 6 defenceman by the end of this season, but to affirm him as one (in the leaguewide sense), before he's had chance to avenge his abysmal season of 2008-09, is premature. What's more it leads to over-expectation.

I think on the eve of his re-introductions, it's worth taking a step back and remembering just who Ryan O'Byrne is...


Who's Ryan?

Well prior to his ascension into the role of 7th, sometimes 8th defenceman for the Montreal Canadiens Ryan O'Byrne had a long career as a defenceman. The records (which I can find) stretch back to the time when he played with the Salsa of Victoria, BC (his hometown). As a 17 and 18 year-old, Ryan plied his trade with the comically-named West Coast outfit. Joining the 2000-01 league champions, Ryan helped to bridge their gap to being a bottom feeder again by helping them to a 3rd place finish in his rookie campaign. His personal contribution is hard to uncover, though offensively I would expect it to be something like he offers in the NHL, as he chipped in for 2 goals and 9 assists in 52 games. The next season was much the same story. However, his trade to the champion Nanaimo Clippers towards the end of the season must have raised some attention, as he was drafted by the Habs following his team's playoff exit.


That summer the Canadiens drafted O'Byrne with their 4th pick (in the 3rd round) behind Andrei Kostitsyn, Cory Urqhart and Maxim Lapierre. Following his good news, he packed his bags for Big Red (aka Cornell University) where he played hockey for the next three seasons. Never one to overdo things in the statistical department, O'Byrne did put on weight, play a decent game against the tougher opposition and put up some goals for his team (an insight into his time in Cornell can be obtained from this interview).

The next move for Ryan was to sign on as a professional with the Canadiens organization. I have to say that at that point in time, the news of a Ryan O'Byrne contract was akin to hearing about Andre Benoit last spring – interesting for the hardcore, largely overlooked by those who deal in the reality of the Habs. It is a compliment to Ryan then that he upped his standing so much in one year with the Bulldogs that he was 18 months later donning the bleu, blanc, rouge in Montreal. That year in Hamilton was a good one for him, as he played on a very good team and won a championship.

The rest of the story you know. And so it is that a big player from BC progressed quietly through the ranks to make an NHL roster as a reserve defender. To expect big jumps from a player that has steadfastly kept to small jumps at this point is hopeful, hopeful indeed.


Late bloomer?

I think any sensible read on Ryan O'Byrne's early career in the BCHL (not WHL), and then NCAA comes to the conclusion that there was a late bloom in there somewhere for the big man. A read of his first NHL steps seem to indicate the late bloom is something that is happening all over again.

Again, it would take nothing away from Ryan's achievement here if his blooming ended at this very stage. He has progressed further than any Victoria Salsa player (circa 2002) should have. To hope for another small bloom is one thing – perhaps with the help of Hamrlik it could happen. However, let's be careful not to buy into hype that leaves us disappointed when a second big bloom does not suddenly appear from under the rock of a 5-week layoff.


What to expect?

I can only speak for myself, but what I expect from O'Byrne tonight (in the best case) is a slightly better Jay Leach. As time goes by, should confidence remain, I would expect him to regain that trainig camp form, which makes him our 5th/6th in a draw with Mara.


Setting the right conditions

One note I would like to make is that for any of this positive stuff to happen, the conditions for O'Byrne must be right.

Those who remember how he struggled with Hamrlik last season will certainly see the problem of pairing young O'Byrne with Marc-Andre Bergeron. In that pairing, O'Byrne becomes the tutor, not the tutored and all is asked of him up front.

Hopefully Jacques Martin realising this will pair him with a complementary player like Hamrlik, which may not only benefit O'Byrne, but also the cascade of defenders who follow.


As far as tonight goes, and his baptism by fire, go easy on the big #3. Playing with Bergeron against Ovechkin and Backstrom after 1.5 competitve games in 6 months might not be kind...

No CryanAt Least He Didn't Celebrate

Hopefully, the momentary appearance of a 4 on Ryan O'Byrne's sweater will be something we can all laugh about in April. Kinda like this:



The goal-starved Japanese player could be forgiven as he'd probably never seen a gaping net before.

It leaves only a couple of nagging questions:
Would a joke celebration have made Ryan's goal better? Can we edit one in?

Chin up Ryan. Redemption can come quick in Montreal for the lucky ones.

Habs Review 2007-08: Ryan O'Byrne

The numbers

2007-08
33 GP: 1 G, 6 A, 7 Pts, 45 PIM, +7, 10 Shots

Career best year
Rookie (same as above)

2007-08 playoffs
4 GP: 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, 0 PIM, -2, 3 Shots
Career best playoffs
Rookie (same as above)


Plays of the game: 0

Game pucks: 0

Domes: 5

3 Star selections: 0


The story

Where he started the season
A very impressive playoff run with Hamilton in 2007 gave this forgotten prospect a legitimate chance at making the squad in October. The team, however, already had 8 NHL defencemen and it seemed like his chance (like that of Ron Hainsey) would not be in Montreal. He started the season in Hamilton likely waiting for an injury in Montreal to happen. What we thought might happen, did happen:

"Because defensemen get injured, he will get himself high enough in the line to see some games. From his Calder Cup play, he has the quality to stick if he gets in the door."

The season
When it became obvious to fans and the coaches alike that neither Dandenault nor Brisebois could play NHL level defence (obvious to me since 1992), a call went to the farm for their best. Ryan was called up in early December and made an immediate impact in his first game notching 2 assists. An injury and a nighclub debacle in late 2007 seemed like it could signal the end of his stay in MTL, but the team stood by him and it seemed like they made the right choice. After his first game brilliance, he only managed 5 points over his next 36 games, but it became very obvious that he was not here for his scoring.


Highlights: O'Byrne hits, passes and scores. The highlights from him this season for me don't make a good real: not making rookie mistakes.




O'Byrne by the numbers: Canadiens.com

Lions' links on O'Byrne:
Canadiens rookie camp
Canadiens Changes: Part 1 of 2
O'Byrne Trying to Make Decisions Easy


Grade: B-
It is not only nice to see a rookie defenceman do well with the Habs, it is just nice to see a rookie defenceman get a chance with the Habs. Ryan got more comfortable as the season went on giving Habs fans high hopes for years to come. At 6'6" we may just have a Chara in our midst which would be great news as our team really does need high-quality defence. The thing that impressed me more than the hits, the fights or the reach was his dedication to smart, defensive play. In his 33 games, he only had a negative rating in 6 of them and 5 of those came in his first 10 career games.


Where we'd have him next season
Hopefully the Habs will get rid of the Breezer and Dandenault, thus making more room for Ryan. He showed this year that he can play at the NHL level and now all he needs is experience. I don't see him being much more that a 6th or 7th D-man next year, but I still think he has his place on our team. What he needs now is to see consistent playing time and his confidence will surely grow.