Stu Cowan: Mastermind Owen Beck exemplifies the blueprint for the future of Canadians

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Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes wants to build a team that plays fast with skill and is also smart.

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That’s a big reason why the Canadiens selected center Owen Beck with the first pick in the second round (33rd overall) in this year’s NHL draft.

The 5-foot-11, 181-pounder posted totals of 21-30-51 in 68 games last season with the Mississauga Steelheads, finishing fifth among OHL rookies in scoring and winning 60.6 percent of their matchups. He was ranked 10th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting prior to the draft and was also named CHL Academic Player of the Year.

Beck earned a 93 percent GPA at Philip Pocock Catholic High School in Mississauga. Her scores included 96 percent advanced functions, 93 percent college chemistry, 94 percent kinesiology, 91 percent calculus, and 93 percent college biology.

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Combining school and junior hockey is not easy. CHL teams play a 68-game regular season, plus playoffs. By comparison, NCAA college teams in the United States play about 40 games.

“The biggest thing for me has been my time management,” Beck said after the draft when asked about his academic accomplishments. “Coming to Mississauga after a full year of not playing hockey (because the OHL was shut down the previous season due to COVID-19) and then having a very busy high school schedule, it takes a lot to balance your schedule and manage your time. to get all the chores and assignments done and still be on the ice and in the gym as much as possible working on your craft. It has taken me a lot of work, but it has built a solid foundation for me and it is worth every minute.”

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Beck admitted it was “a little annoying” not being selected in the first round, but he didn’t have to wait long on the second day of the draft to hear his name at the Bell Center.

The Canadians were impressed with what they saw of Beck on and off the ice.

“Owen Beck is a 200-footer,” Martin Lapointe, the Canadiens’ co-director of amateur scouting, said with Nick Bobrov after the draft. “He plays the right way. He is a student of the game. He is a good student at school. He does good things on the ice. He has A’s in school, he does outstanding things on the ice and it shows in his game. Everything is detail oriented. He has been the best head-to-head in the OHL. He competes, he can skate, he can make plays, he supports his defenses very well. He is under the puck all the time. He just plays the right way.”

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis prefers concepts to systems when it comes to how he wants his team to play.

“I want to make sure I allow my best players to do reads and I prefer them to do a bad one who didn’t do a reading at all,St. Louis explained during his first news conference after taking over from Dominique Ducharme in February. “Sometimes on systems, there are not many reads. so i’m more enthusiastic as a player playing in a concept than in a system, but there’s tons of structure in a concept. it’s just a little more freedom.”

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St. Louis wants their players to be able to make quick decisions on the ice, which is why many of their practices include 3-on-3 minigames.

“You can wire their brain, develop their brain to think a little faster, and then when you put them back on the long ice, they feel like they have more time,” St. Louis explained. “With more time, you generally make a little bit better decisions and you execute a little better.”

Vincent Lecavalier attended the Canadiens’ recent development camp in his new role as special adviser to hockey operations and spoke about how St. Louis and Adam Nicholas, the new director of hockey development, are working on the brains of young players. more than anything. physical.

“From what I’ve learned in the last three or four months of watching all these 17-year-olds, there are a lot of skilled players, but you’re looking for guys that are very smart,” Lecavalier said. “Those are the guys you want to recruit, but you want them to get smarter and work on that part of the game. That’s why they make all these games with restrictions and you can see the level. It’s amazing and they’re not just playing. They are learning and their brains are working.”

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A big reason why the Canadiens drafted 5-foot-8, 151-pound defenseman Lane Hutson with his second pick in the second round of the draft (62nd overall) is due to his brain.

“This kid has a big brain,” Bobrov said. “His sense of him from his hockey is very interesting.”

The Canadians were delighted that Beck was still available when the second round of the draft began.

“He’s a good kid,” Lapointe said. “He is very mature and we are glad we recruited him.”

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