The Montreal Canadiens are aware of the fact that finding good right-shot defensemen is no easy task, and stockpiling a few in the pipeline wouldn’t hurt. At the 2025 draft, they picked Bryce Pickford out of the WHL, and they weren’t disappointed as the right-shot blueliner put up 83 points in 55 games in his last season in junior hockey. The Habs could be tempted to drink from the same well if Vancouver Giants rearguard Ryan Lin is still available when they take to the stage.
The 5-foot-11 and 198-pound defenseman isn’t the biggest player, but his skill set is both impressive and intriguing. Despite his young age, he has shown he is leadership material and was rewarded with the Giants’ captaincy last January, when he was only 17. In his first season in the WHL, he was a rookie of the year finalist, putting up 53 points in 60 games, but he did even better this past season, increasing his production to 57 points in only 53 games.
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The offensive defenseman is a smooth skater and an elite puck-mover who loves leading the attack and joining the rush, but he can at times be overenthusiastic and be caught up ice. That’s not overly worrying as it’s a tendency that many youngsters have. Learning to pick your moments as an offensive defenseman is something that’s, more often than not, on young blueliners’ to-do lists; even Lane Hutson had to do that when he joined the Habs.
He’s been the Giants’ power play quarterback all season long and has demonstrated that he can walk the line with the best of them while scanning the ice to find the best available play, whether it’s passing the puck to a teammate or finding a shooting lane. While his shot isn’t exactly devastating, he’s good at getting the puck on net and creating rebounds for the forwards to feast on.
While he’s not on the same elite level as some of the higher-ranked defensemen in the draft, such as Chase Reid or Daxon Rudolph and doesn’t have their size, he still has a lot of potential, and his ceiling remains to be established. He’s got the vision and hockey sense that would make him a great candidate to play the Martin St-Louis brand of hockey, if it ever came to that.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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