One of the biggest questions facing the Montreal Canadiens heading into this season was where they planned to fit their talented young forwards in the lineup. Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto made the roster out of training camp, due to their experience and strong pre-season showing. Artturi Lehkonen also has cemented a place in the Canadiens top six with impressive offensive and defensive prowess.

Michael McCarron, despite a good performance over the tuneup schedule, still needs to polish his game, and he wouldn’t get that playing less than ten minutes a night in the NHL.

That left Charles Hudon, arguably the most consistent prospect within the Canadiens system for the past three years. He wasn’t a standout in the pre-season, which unfortunately for him spelled an immediate trip back to St. John’s. However, after this past weekend, it’s abundantly clear he’s ready for the next step.

We know what Hudon is capable of on the ice: he’s a slick, highly skilled, goal-scoring machine. He’s a capable quarterback on the power play, and relentless on the puck in the offensive zone. His stats show he’s an elite level AHL talent.

In his first full AHL season, Hudon posted 19 goals and 38 assists, and followed that up with 28 goals, and 25 assists last year. While his scoring totals are impressive, perhaps even more important is the rate at which he generates shots and scoring chances.

With 181 shots last season, and 165 the year before, he’s already up to 19 in just six games. That works out to an average of 2.43 shots on goal per AHL game. This rates favorably with other young forwards breaking into the NHL, such as Seth Griffith (2.05), William Nylander (2.5), and Hunter Shinkaruk (2.21).

Add in the system he plays in, one that during his time in the AHL has ranked 23rd and 20th in goals for, respectively, a power play that has been in the bottom half of the AHL, and his production is put into perspective. On an offensively anemic team, Hudon manages to be a bright spot, and it’s probably time to let that offence shine at the next level.

What comes next is the hard part: the Canadiens have a lot of NHL contracted forwards taking up spots that Hudon could reasonably be expected to fill. The fourth line being made up of Brian Flynn, Torrey Mitchell, and Phillip Danault has been solid, if nothing else, to start this year. However, Flynn’s presence in the lineup knocked Daniel Carr out of the lineup and to the pressbox, while Paul Byron was promoted up a line to play with David Desharnais and Andrew Shaw, and lately has seen time with Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher.

Therein lies the issue. Marc Bergevin loves to have depth, but his depth signings are now blocking the way for talented forwards like Andrighetto, Carr, and Hudon. In the modern NHL, having a bottom six that includes those three forwards is a blessing. Teams like Chicago and Los Angeles made their way to Stanley Cups by having a fully loaded forward corps.

If Montreal is serious about winning, they may want to consider unloading their veteran fourth-liners in the near future, and replacing them with players like Charles Hudon.