Ontario scout ditched two weeks before draft

Steve Ludzik Jr. is gone, but not forgotten.

Ludzik was unceremoniously dumped as the Canadiens’ Ontario amateur scout this past weekend, receiving the news via a phone call from director of player personnel Trevor Timmins while he was jogging near his home in the Niagara region.

While we’re not privy to the reasons behind his dismissal — there has been no comment from the Canadiens on the matter — it’s surprising for a couple of reasons.

For starters, the move came two weeks before the NHL entry draft and Ludzik would have had some input into the list of players under consideration from the Canadiens. He is under contract until the end of the month, but it doesn’t sound as if they ’re planning to ask for his advice.

The other surprise is that, to an outsider, the 31-year-old Ludzik appeared to have done a good job in the brief time he was employed by the Canadiens. He was beating the bushes in Ontario prior to the 2016 draft. That’s shaping up as a good one for the Canadiens and four of the six players chosen were from the Ontario Hockey League.

The prize for Montreal in that draft was Mikhail Sergachev, the Russian defenceman from the Windsor Spitfires, who was selected ninth overall. He was traded to Tampa Bay a year later in the deal for Jonathan Drouin.

It didn’t take a scouting genius to identify Sergachev as a future NHLer, but the Canadiens did well in the later rounds with Will Bitten in the third round, Victor Mete in the fourth and Michael Pezzetta in the sixth round. Mete spent most of last season in Montreal with time out for the world juniors, while Bitten and Pezzetta have signed entry-level contracts after solid seasons in the OHL and are expected to be part of the Laval Rocket rebuild.

The 2016 has been a source of frustration for many fans because the Canadiens sent two secondround picks — Nos. 39 and 45 — to Chicago in return for Andrew Shaw. It has been noted that the trade deprived the Canadians of an opportunity to grab Shawinigan defenceman Samuel Girard, who went 47th overall to Nashville.

But the absence of a secondround pick may have been more costly. In a tweet that was later deleted, Ludzik may have given away some family secrets when he said Erie’s Alex DeBrincat was high on Montreal’s list. Chicago picked him at No. 39.

Montreal didn’t draft any players from the OHL last June, but earlier this year, the Canadiens signed Sault Ste. Marie centre Hayden Verbeek as a free agent.

SPECULATION

While the draft is on the frontburner — Timmins is in Stockholm this week to interview and test 18 European prospects — there is continuing speculation over trades and free-agent rumblings.

General manager Marc Bergevin has some decisions to make regarding players already on the roster. Right-winger Ales Hemsky is an unrestricted free agent but won’t get a new offer.

There are some restricted free agents who must receive qualifying offers by June 25 if the Canadiens want to keep them. The most prominent members of this group are Jacob De La Rose, Daniel Carr and Phillip Danault. All three are eligible for arbitration, as is defenceman Mike Reilly.

The Canadiens said goodbye to one prospect, as Laval winger Markus Eisenschmid signed a two-year contract with Adler Mannheim in the German League. Eisenschmid, who had a careerhigh six goals and 10 assists in 57 games with Laval, was used as a defensive specialist and penalty killer. He represented Germany at the world championships and scored the overtime winner in an upset win over Finland.