Habs selected him with the first pick in the second round at this year's NHL draft and he has been very impressive during preseason.
It didn’t take long for Owen Beck to impress Canadiens management.
On Tuesday, GM Kent Hughes announced that Beck had agreed to terms on a three-year, NHL entry-level contract that will pay the 18-year-old centre US$775,000 at the NHL level in 2022-23, US$835,000 in 2023-24 and US$855,000 in 2024-25. The contract, which also contains signing bonuses of US$95,000 per year, will pay Beck US $82,500 per season at the AHL level.
The Canadiens selected Beck with the first pick in the second round (33rd overall) at this year’s NHL draft and he has been very impressive during training camp and in preseason games.
“He plays a very mature game,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said after Beck’s first preseason game, in which he played on a line with Cole Caufield and Mike Hoffman while captain Nick Suzuki was sidelined with a lower-body injury. “He doesn’t play like an 18-year-old.
“He was in tonight with Cole and Hoff with Suzy being out right now,” the coach added. “It’s an opportunity for him and I thought he took advantage of it.”
Beck posted 21-30-51 totals in 68 games last season with the Mississauga Steelheads, finishing fifth among OHL rookies in scoring, and won 60.6 per cent of his faceoffs. He was ranked 10th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting heading into the draft and was also named the CHL’s Scholastic Player of the Year.
Beck had a 93 per cent grade average at Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga. His grades included 96 per cent in advanced functions, 93 per cent in university chemistry, 94 per cent in kinesiology, 91 per cent in calculus and 93 per cent in university biology.
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“Owen Beck is a 200-foot player,” Martin Lapointe, the Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting, along with Nick Bobrov, said after the draft. “Plays the right way. He’s a student of the game. He’s a good student at school. He does good things on the ice. He’s got A’s at school, he does A things on the ice and it reflects on his play. Everything is detail oriented. He’s been the best faceoff guy in the OHL. Competes, can skate, can make plays, supports his defencemen really well. He’s below the puck all the time. He just plays the right way.”
The Canadiens have an 0-4-1 record in their first five preseason games and will be back in action Tuesday night at the Bell Centre against the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN5, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
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