Xavier Ouellet Autographed Card

Generally, when a former second-round pick in his mid-20s signs as a free agent in his hometown, he's given every chance to succeed, but Xavier Ouellet went through a totally different experience when he signed with the Montréal Canadiens, getting sent to the AHL's Laval Rocket with the consolidation prize of the team's captaincy, all but ensuring he was there to mentor the young prospects instead of being a regular call-up.

However, he did his job well enough for the better part of two seasons that not only did he earn the occasional cal-up (19 games in 2018-19, 12 regular-season games in 2019-20), even head coach Claude Julien thought he was good enough to play on the bottom pair with penalty-killing time in the post-season, suiting up for 10 games for the team that ousted the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round and took the Philadelphia Flyers to six games when the actual playoffs got rolling.

Furthermore, his role increased under Kirk Muller when Julien was hospitalized, playing 15 minutes in the elimination game last night. Furthermore - and that's where the Habs brass will be most happy - he was an even +/- 0 in the regular season and a +2 when play resumed after Covid-19 hit; in Ouellet's case, it actually hit home: he tested positive for the virus.

Defensemen take longer to develop, but I now see a possible career trajectory like that of Ron Hainsey, Nathan Beaulieu or Eric Brewer, high draft picks who took their time to get comfortable in the NHL but ended up staying in the Big Show for a long time.

Before he captained the Rocket and started his career with the Detroit Red Wings, Ouellet displayed his leadership skills by wearing the "C" for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the LHJMQ, who were coached by Joël Bouchard, Laval's current bench boss, as seen on card #63 from In The Game's 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects set:

That 1990s Los Angeles Kings-inspired white (home) uniform is beautiful! He signed it in (fading) blue sharpie back when he was in the Wings organization (2013-18).

Xavier Ouellet Autographed Card

After multiple call-ups totaling 21 games with the Detroit Red Wings last season, Xavier Ouellet is about to have his first legitimate shot, at age 21, at an NHL roster spot next season. He probably won't want to get sent to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins as often as last year, as it ended up taking its toll on his morale.

In my opinion, he's shown enough to be used as a #6 defenseman while he rounds his game and learns the ropes, and has the potential of being a #4 for a long time, with the added bonus of first-unit powerplay specialist. I see the 6'1'', 185-pound point man developing into a Jeff Petry type, or a better-defensively Ron Hainsey type.

Every team needs those, and with Niklas Kronwall entering his mid-30s, so will the Wings.

He was drafted in the second round (48th overall) in 2011, ahead of Scott Harrington (54th), Keegan Lowe (73rd), Jonathan Racine (87th), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (96th), Reid Boucher (99th), Johnny Gaudreau (104th), Andrew Shaw (139th), Frank Corrado (150th), Alexei Marchenko (205th), and Ondrej Palat (208th), and proceeded to be named to two consecutive First All-Star Team selections in the LHJMQ for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, who named him an alternate captain.

He had been drafted out of the same franchise, but before it moved to the suburbs, as can be attested by this 2011-12 Heroes And Prospects card (#183 in the set) from In The Game, showing him in the Montréal Junior's burgundy (a bit of a tribute to former NHL team the Montreal Maroons) away uniform:

He signed it in thin blue sharpie when he came back to town a couple of weeks ago, through a contact with the Armada as he went home to Terrebonne, on Montréal's North Shore. I thought I'd also brought one of him with the Armada, but I'd forgotten it, so I guess I'll have to try it through the mail (TTM) this winter instead.