A turn of events and already a big decision to come for Owen Beck?

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Elias Edmonson
June 6, 2023 (9:41)

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Last Friday night, the Peterborough Petes were trailing 4-1 to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the semifinals of the Memorial Cup tournament. This marked the end of the season for the Montreal Canadiens' prospect, Owen Beck.

Due to an agreement between the NHL and the CHL, Beck, now 19 years old, finds himself restricted for the upcoming season. The agreement states that 18 and 19-year-old players must return to their junior team if the NHL team that drafted them does not keep them on their roster. In other words, any player drafted from the Canadian Hockey League (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, Western Hockey League) aged 18 or 19 cannot be sent to the AHL.

Beck thus only has two possible destinations for next year if he wishes to stay in North America, either with the Canadiens, or in the OHL. However, many, including Marc Dumont from the site MTLHockeyNow, believe that he has nothing left to learn in juniors and that he would greatly benefit from playing professionally.

"Dipping his toes in the icy waters of professional hockey at the AHL level would be the ideal way to ease Beck into the next step of his career." - Marc Dumont

To those who believe Beck still needs to develop his offensive side, Dumont reminds them that Beck scored 17 goals and made 24 assists in 30 games with the Mississauga Steelheads, where he was used primarily in an offensive role. His role with Seattle, after the trade, changed to a defensive one. However, Beck was able to score 7 goals and 18 assists in 30 games in this new role.

A change of circumstances and a new option?

Regarding Beck's choice of league for next season, the excellent Andrew Zadarnowski has a most interesting proposition. He suggests that the Canadiens loan their prospect to a European team.

"Owen Beck is not yet eligible to play in the AHL, yet does he have anything left to learn in juniors? I wonder if a loan to a European club would be more interesting for his 19-year-old season. I doubt that the Habs will want him further away, but it's an interesting avenue to take."

European contracts are currently being signed, so if this is Beck's choice, an announcement could certainly be imminent.

Beck is not yet ready to make the jump to the NHL, but he could really benefit from playing with men next season. It will be interesting to see how the Habs' management views him.

In fact, it will be interesting to see how the club's new leaders will develop their young prospects. It's nice to have good drafts, but as we have seen too often in Montreal over the last few years, the young man must make progress!