Montreal Canadiens Mark Barberio, Charlie Lindgren To AHL All-Star Game
The Montreal Canadiens will have two prospects playing in the AHL All-Star Game at the end of the month.
The Montreal Canadiens will have Carey Price at the NHL All-Star Game. They will also have a pair of top prospects at the AHL All-Star Game. Mark Barberio and Charlie Lindgren were both selected to play in the annual game today by the American Hockey League.
The AHL All-Star Classic takes place on the January 29-30 weekend. Barberio was selected to play in the game last year but was actually with the Canadiens so he couldn’t play. The same could happen this season, as Barberio has been playing with the Habs since November 24.
Barberio has certainly earned the All Star honour from the AHL. In 20 games with the top NHL affiliate, the defenceman has scored three goals and 18 points. He was among the highest scoring defenders in the league before being recalled to the Canadiens.
It’s difficult to say where he will be playing when the AHL All Star Game takes place. Andrei Markov is coming closer to a return to the Habs lineup. Though this could spell the end of a Habs tenure for Barberio, he’s been playing well for the NHL club.
In 15 games since being called up, Barberio has just a pair of points, both being assists. So, his point totals aren’t jumping off the page. However, Barberio has been playing a solid, simple two-way style for the Canadiens. He won’t be joining Shea Weber on the top pairing any time soon, but any NHL team could do a lot worse than have Barberio on the left side of their third pair.
Lindgren has more long-term future than Barberio
Lindgren is in his rookie season with the Ice Caps. He played the last three seasons playing NCAA hockey with St. Cloud State. The Lakeville, Minnesota native is sporting a 13-9-0 record for the Ice Caps this season. He has a 2.79 goals against average and a .913 save percentage as well.
The All-Star Game nod is a nice achievement for both Habs prospects. However, at the age of 26 and already having played 148 NHL games he’s probably no thrilled about being a minor league all star.
Lindgren, on the other hand is proving to be a legitimate NHL prospect. The 23 year old rookie pro is showing he was a great signing by the Habs last spring. If Lindgren keeps up this performance, he will be seriously battling Al Montoya to be Price’s backup next season.
The games takes place on January 30th in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which is the home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
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