Adam Engstrom – His Path to the NHL

Adam Engstrom was chosen in the third round at 92nd overall in the 2022 entry draft. He had just completed a season the Swedish junior league scoring eight goals and adding 20 assists in 45 games. Third round picks usually don’t attract a lot of attention, but since his draft day Engstrom has been steadily moving up the ranks.

The following season he proved to be too talented in languish in junior hockey as he picked up 13 points on only seven games, earning himself an early promotion to the SHL, bypassing Sweden’s second tier pro league, Hockey Allsvenskan, altogether. And as a 20-year-old he quickly established himself as a regular in the SHL. It is a league that some consider to be a step above the AHL.

At 6-2 195, Engstrom has NHL size and his skating ability is listed as one of his assets. So has his decision making with the puck. All of this gives us an indication of his potential ceiling might be as an NHL player.

A reasonable comparison might be Mike Matheson, another 6-2 195 left shot defenceman whose strengths are his skating and his abilities.  Matheson was a first round pick in 2012 who developed into defenceman with offensive flair. Over his 579 game career to date, he has averaged a solid 10 goals and 26 assists per 82 games played, peaking at 11 goals and 51 assists last season.

Our enthusiasm for last season’s point production, however, needs to be tempered as Matheson has never reached 35 points in any other season. With Lane Hutson taking over much of the power play duty, it seems unlikely that Matheson will ever replicate his banner season as a Montreal Canadien. Still, his talent on offence is obvious.

All of this brings us back to Adam Engstrom. What is his ceiling and where could he fit as a member to the Montreal Canadiens. We can begin with an early-career statistical comparison with Matheson.

At similar ages the two players have put up remarkably similar numbers but the development trajectory for every player is different. The question remains whether Engstrom’s game will continue to develop at the same pace as Matheson’s.

There is also the question of opportunity. Even if the Canadiens were to trade Matheson, the organization remains deep in terms of LD. Where would Engstrom fit if Hutson and Guhle are in the top four. As a third pairing defenceman, he would be in a battle with Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble. Laval teammate William Trudeau is also vying for a spot in the NHL. With most teams filling their third pairing with physical, defence-first players, it is hard to picture exactly how Engstrom would fit in that role.

Some defencemen can play effectively on their weak side. Serge Savard did it for years with the Canadiens while Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson patrolled the left side. But not all players can and whether Engstrom is able to be effective there remains to be seen. There is also the matter of Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher, two former first round picks, and newly acquired Alexandre Carrier who are all right shot defencemen.

While Engstrom has adapted well to playing on the smaller North American rinks in his first season on this side of the Atlantic, it quickly becomes apparent that the situation on defence for the Montreal Canadiens going forward remains somewhat muddled.

In the meantime, we can hope that all of the Canadiens young defencemen, including Engstrom, continue to play develop and create a good problem for general manager Kent Hughes.