Before the start of the 2018-19 season, Cale Fleury was in a similar situation to many young prospects before him. He had outgrown the Canadian Hockey League.

The easiest approach for Fleury would have been returning to the Western Hockey League for a year as an over-ager, to truly dominate the league before making his professional hockey debut. But the Canadiens opened the door last summer by advising Fleury there was a possibility he could earn an entry level contract, pending his performance at training camp. He stood out as one of the most well-rounded prospects, and on Oct. 4, he signed his entry level deal.

Fast forward six months and Fleury has made a virtually seamless transition into the professional ranks, establishing himself as one of the most promising young defencemen in the AHL.

Fleury didn’t arrive as a timid rookie. He jumped into the action and immediately took over as one of the most important players on the Laval Rocket roster. To facilitate the transition, head coach Joël Bouchard generally paired Fleury with veterans, first Xavier Ouellet and later Karl Alzner. But even before Ouellet’s arrival, Fleury made his mark. He also missed an entire month because of an undisclosed ailment which kept him out of action from mid-November to mid-December. Despite the setback, Fleury’s progression never skipped a beat.

Strengths

His first goal with the Rocket was a prime example of Fleury’s ability to time his pinches perfectly and exploit open ice. Without making any direct comparisons, it’s similar to what made Andrei Markov such an offensive threat in his prime with the Canadiens.

Keep an eye on No. 38, who suddenly appears on the right of your screen. That’s Fleury doing what he does best — supporting the attack at a crucial moment of the game. It’s the type of aggressive offensive behavior coaches will applaud, if the situation calls for it.

For most young puck-moving defencemen, timing is the biggest hurdle they’ll face as they adapt to the professional game. It’s OK, even encouraged, to support the attack, but the optics of a failed pinch have been enough to sap the confidence from many offensive-minded defencemen. Fleury’s vision and ability to read the play have allowed him to easily glide over that hurdle.

Offensive timing wasn’t exactly a challenge for Fleury but rather something that quickly added to the confidence of a young man already brimming with belief in his own abilities.

On the rare occasion that he was caught deep in the offensive zone, Fleury struggled to catch up to the play due to a lack of top-end speed, but his first few steps were usually enough to cover the amount of ground required to at least close the gap on the player he was chasing.

With nine goals in just 60 games, Fleury finished first among all Rocket defenders, ninth overall on the team and tied for sixth among rookie defencemen in the league.

His approach is more cerebral than most. He doesn’t possess a particularly great slap shot, but he doesn’t need it, either. His go-to move at the blue line involves patience and, once again, confidence. He’ll walk the line until there’s a significant amount of traffic in front of the opposing goalie, then use his deceptively quick release to find an open shooting lane.

It may seem counterintuitive, given that the longer you wait, the lower the odds are of getting your shot through, but Fleury has shown time and again he has an ability to get the puck on net regardless of how much traffic he’s facing. For Fleury, it’s not about power, it’s about finesse, similar to how Erik Karlsson scores at the NHL level.

Fleury added 14 assists to the nine goals he scored this season, which may seem somewhat underwhelming. But compared with the other defencemen who entered the AHL as 19-year-olds this season, Fleury held his own in terms of offensive production, even though he was playing on one of the worst offensive clubs in the league.

Only three teams scored fewer goals than the Rocket this season, which puts Fleury’s point totals in a much brighter light. If the Rocket were among the better teams in the AHL, or at the very least, average when it came to scoring goals, Fleury’s assist numbers would have increased significantly.

But despite the lack of goals in Laval this year, Fleury compares quite well with his fellow young defenders. It’s worth noting that four of his goals came on the power play; however, he usually only played on the second wave, which took over toward the end of the advantage.

You’ll notice that every player listed in the above graphic is a first-round pick in the NHL, with the exception of Fleury and Nic Hague, who was selected 34th overall in 2017, just a few picks into the second round. For comparison’s sake, I added Cale’s brother, Haydn, to the mix, even though his rookie season in the AHL was back in 2016-17. Haydn was selected seventh overall in the 2014 draft.

Fleury’s shot totals, however, aren’t particularly impressive. With just 1.44 shots per game, Fleury is much less active than some of his similarly-aged competition, raising some red flags as to whether his goal-scoring rate is sustainable.

As previously mentioned, Fleury’s outright speed isn’t great, but given enough time and space, his first few strides can create enough momentum to allow him to lead the breakout when the opportunity arises.

His most-used tactic when exiting the zone is short passes to forwards, as to lower the degree of difficulty in pass receptions and mitigate neutral-zone turnovers. That’s not to say he doesn’t make long breakout passes, but in general, he prefers a shorter passing distance when leaving the zone.

At this point, you may be wondering why we’re not discussing Cale Fleury’s ideal spot on the blue line with the Canadiens this season.

He scores goals, leads the breakout, and once in a while, he’ll drop an opponent with a heavy bodycheck.

I even compared some parts of his skill set to a few elite defenders, in Markov and Karlsson.

He’s bound for the Hall of Fame, right? Let’s reel it in a bit.

Weaknesses

As is the case with most young defenders, there are several things Fleury needs to improve upon before we can start projecting him as a top-four defenceman for the Canadiens.

Though his breakouts improved over the course of the season, Fleury did struggle to adapt to the increased speed and lack of space in the professional game, often getting caught in his own zone due to unforced errors.

His vision in the offensive zone is excellent — he keeps a close eye on all of his teammates and opposing players — but at times he struggled to identify high-pressure situations which put him at risk of a turnover in the defensive zone.

The next step

As the seventh-youngest regular defenceman in the AHL last season, Fleury exceeded all expectations and put up similar numbers to much more highly touted prospects. He played between 22 and 26 minutes on most nights, facing some of the top competition in the league.

His confidence, in particular, allowed him to establish a brand of hockey very similar to what the Canadiens play at the NHL level, which bodes well for his future.

“For me, the way I play, I need to have confidence,” said Fleury in late March. “If I don’t have any confidence, I’ll end up playing worse. Confident plays are more risky plays, but they have to come naturally, you can’t go looking for them or try to do it every shift.”

True to form, Fleury adhered to that ideology throughout the season, especially in the offensive zone. But his play in his own zone left something to be desired. It wasn’t poor, and he improved his positioning, gap control and defensive awareness as the season went along, but he simply didn’t have enough pro experience to anticipate some of the more difficult situations in the defensive zone.

Which is why, despite all the fantastic things Fleury has shown in his rookie campaign, the best bet for his development is allowing him to play another season in the AHL.

He can probably handle NHL duties starting next season, especially in a third-pairing situation, but seeing as Noah Juulsen has more NHL experience, and that Shea Weber and Jeff Petry are anchored on the right side of the defence, Fleury is probably on the outside looking in when it comes to next year’s lineup. If he were a left-handed defenceman, we would be having a different discussion, but as it stands, the right side of the defence is already a strength for the Canadiens.

Things can change quickly, and Fleury’s play at training camp next fall will have a significant impact on his final destination, especially relative to the play of Josh Brook and Juulsen, fellow right-handed prospects vying for the same spot.

But for now, there’s no rush to graduate Fleury. The Canadiens may be better off erring on the side of caution when it comes to this young defender’s development.

“I would like to be with the Canadiens,” Fleury said regarding next season. “If not, it’s OK to be here (in Laval) with a big role, trying to get there.”

He’s well on his way to being a player in the NHL.

He just needs more time in the AHL to put everything together.

(Top photo: Stephane Dube /Getty Images)