Tyler Thorpe is Having a Good Season

Tyler Thorpe was a nice draft selection by the Montreal Canadiens. They saw a player, a bit older, with some size, and took him with a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The thing about it is, you have to view this with a different lens. The first part is age. Macklin Celebrini is younger, for example, so age matters when going up against other players.

The second part of this is his size and weight which is way ahead of many players in the WHL. The average is six feet tall and around 188 pounds. Most of the players aren’t anywhere near having “man strength” yet, but Thorpe is closer than most. And it factors into his success this season for sure.

His 12 goals is almost a career-high already and his 26 points in 30 games is the highest since playing for the Vancouver Giants. Cameron Schmidt, a top draft pick in 2025 is the team’s top scorer with 36 points to put it into perspective.

Related: NHL Draft Tracker 2024, Montreal Canadiens Picks

Thorpe’s former teammate, Michael Honzek, also a bigger guy, is now in the AHL and has 10 points in 16 games. So his points per game are down and that’s what happens. Sometimes the player can figure it out after a couple of seasons or they change the type of player they are or they just don’t get to the NHL as a full-time player.

Thorpe has a long stick and a nice wrist shot. He gets a lot of room out there. I think he needs to work on his defense and his speed. So far so good, but let’s see what happens with him when he gets to the AHL next season.