D Cale Fleury - Regina Pats, WHL (2017, 87th, MTL)

[Gravity]

Great first game from Fleury. Looks like a future stud in the making.

 

[Legend123]

Great first game from Fleury. Looks like a future stud in the making.

looks alot better than his brother

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Way better than Hayden. Cale is a stud out there.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

If only he had finished that breakaway (just needed to lift the puck a bit more), would have been amazing.

The best way I can describe him is that there's no 'weak spot' in his game. He's big. He's mobile. He thinks the game well. He's competitive. He's poised and confident. He has a good shot. He moves the puck in solid fashion.

 

[schnapshot]

Looks like he will bust especially given the way Montreal develops players.

Great take, as usual!

 

[Intangir]

Pleasantly surprised with Fleury's play since the beginning of training camp. I thought he might need another year or two in the AHL to materialize his potential but it looks like that isn't the case.

Anyways, he shows great promise and could be a strong top 4 guy for us in a couple of years.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

that feel when canes got the worse fleury with the 7th overall pick

 

[Canes]

I was surprised he played only 14 minutes or so. He was the most notable d-man for the Habs I thought.

 

[Hostile Offer]

I was surprised he played only 14 minutes or so. He was the most notable d-man for the Habs I thought.

Petry was arguably better but no slight on Fleury, he indeed had a really strong performance. Our new AHL development staff already paying dividends.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Cale was solid all round. He is an interesting young dman with Petry upside.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

We got the 7th overrall in this trade, and Carolina the 3rd rounder.

 

[Favster]

He was overlooked big time because of Brook but this kid is going to be something else. He is already well above NHL average for strength and skates very very well. Could see a Romanov Brook pairing soon enough, that would be a nightmare to play against.

 

[Bouboumaster]

If "Jeff Petry" is Cale Fleury's ceilling, I'm really ok with that lol

 

[The S5]

He looked fine last night, but I would pump the brakes on him definitely surpassing his brother.
I thought Hayden played well last night, even though Rod limited the third pair in the final period.

 

[montreal]

I didn't see the whole game but I think some are hyping him up just a tad. He's struggled at times in his own end and there are likely going to be growing pains defensively just as you saw last night as he ends up a -1 because he was out of position. What I like is the physical game and his shot, as well as his physical tools of size, skating, mobility, speed, strength. He can really lay the boom at times and he can move the puck well so there's a lot to like.

With Brook, Fleury, if Juulsen can get healthy the Habs have some impressive depth at RD, plus Romanov and Harris played RD mostly all of last year despite being LD's and I believe Norlinder can play both sides.

 

[montreal]

Only took 2 games for Fleury to be a healthy scratch. Nothing like messing with a 20 year olds confidence, the Habs are great at this under MB.

 

[landy92mack29]

 

[CapSpace]

Only took 2 games for Fleury to be a healthy scratch. Nothing like messing with a 20 year olds confidence, the Habs are great at this under MB.

Say what again

 

[Intangir]

20 games into the season Fleury looks pretty solid out there and while he does make mistakes at times as a rookie he is also very useful seemingly every game and especially adept at boxing opposing forwards when they try to bypass him to enter the zone.

His all-around play and physicality have been an asset on our third defensive pairing and he has been really good tonight against New Jersey with a nifty goal and a great defensive play to stop a sure-goal by NJ in the first period.

If Cale Fleury continues progressing and playing with heart as he is doing right now, his should be a long and good career in the NHL as a defenseman.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

20 games into the season Fleury looks pretty solid out there and while he does make mistakes at times as a rookie he is also very useful seemingly every game and especially adept at boxing opposing forwards when they try to bypass him to enter the zone.

His all-around play and physicality have been an asset on our third defensive pairing and he has been really good tonight against New Jersey with a nifty goal and a great defensive play to stop a sure-goal by NJ in the first period.

If Cale Fleury continues progressing and playing with heart as he is doing right now, his should be a long and good career in the NHL as a defenseman.

He has one point in 15 NHL games. Seemed like he could be a two way guy when I saw him play last year if he could grow his offensive game in the AHL for a bit. That part of his game seems to have regressed this year, but it’s still nice to see him score a goal (took him 35 less games than Jokiharju from the same draft).

 

[Intangir]

He has one point in 15 NHL games. Seemed like he could be a two way guy when I saw him play last year if he could grow his offensive game in the AHL for a bit. That part of his game seems to have regressed this year, but it’s still nice to see him score a goal (took him 35 less games than Jokiharju from the same draft).

It's a lot harder to take on an offensive role in the NHL than it is in the AHL as a defenseman, moreso as a rookie, doubly so as a rookie with a relatively short leash (Fleury got scratched after two games and his icetime gets cut severely when he performs a bit more poorly, so there's your evidence). Given these facts, I wouldn't say that part of his game has regressed much or at all this year, it's only more difficult for him to exhibit his offense given his inexperience, the pressure on him and his diminished role.

Not just looking at stats but watching Fleury play you can see that he still manages to get good shots in from the point (but they haven't gotten in or got delfected aside from last night), keeps up with play and passes the puck generally well while actually being pretty good on the breakout and transition (sprung Byron and the like a few times on quasi-breakaways earlier in the season but they did nothing with it each time). To reach his offensive ceiling he just needs to calm down, adjust to the speed and pressure a bit better, execute a bit faster and have the poise to find some open options on the offensive side or when dealing with pressure. Without experience and playing under duress and learning from it, it is very difficult to improve in those aspects, so while a trip to the AHL might rekindle Fleury's confidence a bit and light a fire under him, I think that playing games for the Montreal Canadiens in tight situations is better for him in the short and long term since he isn't really struggling at all, only going through the same growing pains that every defender (save the Raymond Bourques of the world, but they're damn rare) goes through to begin their career in the NHL.

However, if there ever comes a time when Cale Fleury looks overwhelmed and struggles for more than an odd shift here and there, then yeah, he should get sent to the AHL to work on his game and confidence. In that eventuality, we'll be able to bring up Juulsen or play Folin in his place with not much loss at all, but until then Fleury has shown to be good for us and deserves his icetime on the team.

With more time and experience at the NHL level I wouldn't be surprised if Fleury eventually finds more of a scoring touch and manages to produce more consistently. Even then, having watched him play a lot these last three years, I don't think Cale Fleury has much more than 30-40 points potential in a season in the NHL at best. If he develops to his full potential, we'll have an extremely solid two-way top 4 RHD on our hands.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

It's a lot harder to take on an offensive role in the NHL than it is in the AHL as a defenseman, moreso as a rookie, doubly so as a rookie with a relatively short leash (Fleury got scratched after two games and his icetime gets cut severely when he performs a bit more poorly, so there's your evidence). Given these facts, I wouldn't say that part of his game has regressed much or at all this year, it's only more difficult for him to exhibit his offense given his inexperience, the pressure on him and his diminished role.

Not just looking at stats but watching Fleury play you can see that he still manages to get good shots in from the point (but they haven't gotten in or got delfected aside from last night), keeps up with play and passes the puck generally well while actually being pretty good on the breakout and transition (sprung Byron and the like a few times on quasi-breakaways earlier in the season but they did nothing with it each time). To reach his offensive ceiling he just needs to calm down, adjust to the speed and pressure a bit better, execute a bit faster and have the poise to find some open options on the offensive side or when dealing with pressure. Without experience and playing under duress and learning from it, it is very difficult to improve in those aspects, so while a trip to the AHL might rekindle Fleury's confidence a bit and light a fire under him, I think that playing games for the Montreal Canadiens in tight situations is better for him in the short and long term since he isn't really struggling at all, only going through the same growing pains that every defender (save the Raymond Bourques of the world, but they're damn rare) goes through to begin their career in the NHL.

However, if there ever comes a time when Cale Fleury looks overwhelmed and struggles for more than an odd shift here and there, then yeah, he should get sent to the AHL to work on his game and confidence. In that eventuality, we'll be able to bring up Juulsen or play Folin in his place with not much loss at all, but until then Fleury has shown to be good for us and deserves his icetime on the team.

With more time and experience at the NHL level I wouldn't be surprised if Fleury eventually finds more of a scoring touch and manages to produce more consistently. Even then, having watched him play a lot these last three years, I don't think Cale Fleury has much more than 30-40 points potential in a season in the NHL at best. If he develops to his full potential, we'll have an extremely solid two-way top 4 RHD on our hands.

I appreciate your point of view, and you raise some good points. I don’t think Fleury looks ‘overwhelmed’ in the NHL per se. But his offensive game doesn’t seem to be developing. If thebHabs are looking to mood him into a 4/5 purely defensive shutdown type, then keep him where he is. If they want to give his offensive game a chance to grow, then I feel he would be better off in Laval with more opportunities and icetime in which he can develop that aspect of his game.