Logan Sawyer Was an Interesting Draft Selection for Montreal

Logan Sawyer was an interesting third-round pick for the Canadiens. He’s a 6’1”, 174-pound left wing who has a lot of tools in his toolbox but of course, it’s going to take some time to harness them.

His path to pro hockey seemed like it was going to take a while. In 2023-24, he was in the AJHL and then the BCHL, and now he’s with Providence College, a terrific team in Hockey East. That’s a nice progression and the fact that he’s going to be 19 in May is good. He’s not behind at all.

He’s getting 13:49 of ice time but 2:09 of that is power play time so he is getting sheltered minutes. Sawyer is getting 55% offensive zone starts, so that’s another clue that they are dipping him slowly into the pool rather than throwing him into the deep end.

Has good discipline, and his PIMS are down. These are things that a lot of freshmen have trouble with so that’s a plus.

Sawyer has six points in 15 games. He’s shooting an average of 4.5 shots per game so there’s no issue and the large majority of his shots are hitting the net too. That’s all good. Offensively, he has terrific passing ability on the power play especially. His speed is good and he battles to get to the dirty areas and that’s a good sign too.

He has to work on other facets of his game. He can make better decisions on where to go in the defensive zone. He’s good at making safe passes and getting up the ice but afterward, it seems like he’s chasing the play and that’s something that should improve with reps.

Providence coach, Nate Leaman is very good at developing young talent. The Canadiens aren’t going to worry about that aspect of things. I can see Sawyer playing three seasons in Providence. Let’s see how he progresses this season.