Prospect Info: Cale Fleury

[azcanuck]

Fleury was solid last night. He has an explosiveness to his skating. Boom!! he hits a guy.

At times he gets beat by allowing a guy to cut around him. Not sure what's up with that. I can live with a few rookie mistakes knowing he's so much better then folin and you know he'll get much better while Folin will never be anything but a 7th D.

but he has good offensive instincts and I'm excited to see where that goes.

 

[jiboy]

He had a pretty bad no look pass right in front of our goalie last night but I love the way he plays.

He wants to make a difference and I really prefer to have a player that just need to be toned down a little bit and finding the right spots to pinch/hit.

Much more fun than a player who just wants to make no mistake and be forgotten on the ice.

 

[Vachon23]

I love how he was physical yesterday. 10 hits and alote of them where hard hit

 

[SpeedyPotato]

He reminds me of Emelin, but less of a head hunter and more stable defensively, with a bit more offensive potential. Could become a very solid 3-4 D!

 

[Deebs]

He reminds me of Emelin, but less of a head hunter and more stable defensively, with a bit more offensive potential. Could become a very solid 3-4 D!

Much smarter than Emelin

 

[paddy]

You know that it's just a comfort and confidence issue before he really starts to be good. Once he has those, he'll be a good one.

 

[SpeedyPotato]

Much smarter than Emelin

Definitely, much more positionally sound, lot less brain cramps, hence my "more stable defensively" statement. It's still early though, we all loved Emelin in his first year, things got progressively worse as he was given responsibilities he shouldn't have had.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Much smarter than Emelin

That is yet to be determined.

 

[Deebs]

That is yet to be determined.

Nah, we can already tell.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

He’s 9 games in, no points yet, even plus/minus.

Will he stay up, or head to Laval for more seasoning?

 

[The Great Weal]

He’s 9 games in, no points yet, even plus/minus.

Will he stay up, or head to Laval for more seasoning?

The offense will come soon imo. He's honestly the only rookie that isn't afraid to shoot the puck.

 

[Archijerej]

Definitely, much more positionally sound, lot less brain cramps, hence my "more stable defensively" statement. It's still early though, we all loved Emelin in his first year, things got progressively worse as he was given responsibilities he shouldn't have had.

It's easier to look good as a #6 defenseman.

 

[S Bah]

Lost in all of last night's madness was Cale Fleury's performance. Threw some big hits, fired off some nice shots and played solid start to finish. Let's see him vs a good team like the Blues.

He was a bright spot for the Habs as were the usual culprits(Veterans and our rookie Fleury didn't look tired, youth helps in recuperating quickly.)

 

[montreal]

I haven't gotten to see much of him, with Juulsen back and playing solid defensive hockey I had wondered if at some point they would flip them. Fleury's offense would be a welcome addition to Laval but if he's playing well then Juulsen will have to wait and it's not like he couldn't stand to benefit from playing more in Laval after missing so much time and barely playing in the AHL since turning pro as he needs to improve his offensive game.

That said I saw a little of the previous 2 games before dallas and saw him paired with Reilly and I thought good lord what are they trying to do to the kid, as that has the potential to be a nightmare pairing unless Reilly has started to listen to the coaches and not make dumb decisions with the puck at times. Fleury has his own defensive issues so putting them together just sounds terrible to me. What happened to Kulak, did he forget how to hockey?

 

[c3z4r]

It's easier to look good as a #6 defenseman.

For as much flak as he gets thrown his way, Emelin was playing 20+ minutes a night and was our #3/4D for multiple seasons when we were making deep playoffs runs, winning our division and battling for winning the conference. If not for injuries completely taking away the little skating he had, he'd probably still be a serviceable dman in the NHL.

There's a long way to go before Fleury is even remotely as good as Emelin was in his time here; however Emelin was 25 when he debuted into the NHL, whereas Fleury will turn 21 this month, so there's a solid 4 years to go before I would even start comparing them.

 

[dinodebino]

I liked his game, even though he still looks a tad light on the frame. He hit amd made some good plays. Reilly, not a fan.

 

[montreal]

For as much flak as he gets thrown his way, Emelin was playing 20+ minutes a night and was our #3/4D for multiple seasons when we were making deep playoffs runs, winning our division and battling for winning the conference. If not for injuries completely taking away the little skating he had, he'd probably still be a serviceable dman in the NHL.

There's a long way to go before Fleury is even remotely as good as Emelin was in his time here; however Emelin was 25 when he debuted into the NHL, whereas Fleury will turn 21 this month, so there's a solid 4 years to go before I would even start comparing them.

If they had just kept Emelin at the 5th spot where he belonged, fans would have liked him more as he's not a guy that you want in your top 2 pairings.

Fleury does remind me a bit of him since he can dish out some crushing hits due to his speed/skating/mobility/size but he's got more offensive abilities. To me it's just been a question about his defensive game which maybe wasn't as bad as I thought since in Laval when he was paired with Ouellet it was a nightmare but that could have been more to do with Ouellet. Guess we'll see as the season goes on how he holds up

 

[Tyson]

Cale continues to get comfortable with the NHL game. The one complete AHL season has done wonders for this kid.

For a player with 9 NHL games he looks poised, calm and hits like a truck. Hard not to be excited if you are a Habs fan.

 

[ahmedou]

Fleury never avoid contacts. That's very encouraging for the future. He plays with zero pressure. Add to that, his quality of shot is really underrated.

 

[gillyguzzler]

Liking him more and more each game. Will make errors but 9 games in, it's very encouraging. The physical game is there and will only get better. The offence will come. I really like his shot and how he gets if on net.

 

[angusyoung]

Liking him more and more each game. Will make errors but 9 games in, it's very encouraging. The physical game is there and will only get better. The offence will come. I really like his shot and how he gets if on net.

He seems to be progressing nicely to date. Habs will have to make a decision when Juulsen is ready, although Juulsen looked pretty good when he debuted last season before the injury.

 

[Habs Halifax]

- 3.44 hits/game: Ranks 1st on the Habs
- 1.44 blocks/game: Ranks 3rd on the Habs
- 14:57 of ATIO: Ranks 6th last on the Habs

Zero points but he's doing very well as a 3rd pairing guy and the minutes he is getting. I love the physical play and skating package he brings to the Table.

 

[Habs Halifax]

He seems to be progressing nicely to date. Habs will have to make a decision when Juulsen is ready, although Juulsen looked pretty good when he debuted last season before the injury.

Agreed. Juulsen was playing with Reilly and as our 2nd pairing too last season before that injury derailed his season.

It will be very interesting to see who stands up and is the better one between Juulsen, Brook, and Fleury in the next few seasons.

 

[angusyoung]

- 3.44 hits/game: Ranks 1st on the Habs
- 1.44 blocks/game: Ranks 3rd on the Habs
- 14:57 of ATIO: Ranks 6th last on the Habs

Zero points but he's doing very well as a 3rd pairing guy and the minutes he is getting. I love the physical play and skating package he brings to the Table.

He does look good for being so green. A solid 4=6 on a roster. Not sure how much offensive upside he's got. NJ appears to have a leg up in that area,and can play physical as well,but not his bread and butter.

 

[angusyoung]

Agreed. Juulsen was playing with Reilly and as our 2nd pairing too last season before that injury derailed his season.

It will be very interesting to see who stands up and is the better one between Juulsen, Brook, and Fleury in the next few seasons.

Forgot all about Brook,but he seems to have stagnated already.