Habs’ Draft Pick Shasby Turning Heads

By Chris Boucher
Matt Shasby was the Canadiens’ 5th round pick, 150th overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He’s built in a similar mold to three other Habs’ draft picks. Ron Hainsey, Chris Dyment, and Ryan Glenn. All of who play in the US College ranks. Although Shasby’s name has not been mentioned in the same breath as Hainsey and Dyment, his early season success is beginning to merit some attention.

Through 4 games Shasby has already doubled his goal output of a year ago. In fact, he scored more goals in an October 14th game against Michigan (2) than he did the entire 99-00 season. After 6 games he has 2 goals and 2 assists, compared to 1 goal and 8 assists in 32 games last season.

As a 17 year-old he was selected to be a member of the USA Hockey Development Program. This is a program which has turned out defensemen Brooks Orpik, David Tanabe, and Doug Janik. Unfortunately Shasby had already committed to Lincoln of the USHL. This decision likely slowed down his development, as he missed out on some of the best coaching available in the US, and a possible trip to the World Junior Championships.

Matt attended a Pro Conditioning camp in Minnesota during the off-season. This camp allowed Matt the opportunity to develop a conditioning program to increase his strength, and push his weight up to 196 Lbs.

Earlier this season he was selected as the top defenseman in the Nissan Classic Hockey Tournament, which took place the weekend of October 13th. He was also named to the All-Tournament team; An incredible achievement considering the talent in the tournament, and the fact that his team lost both games.

Matt’s sophomore season has allowed him the opportunity to take on more responsibility both on offense and on defense. He is averaging close to 30 minutes a game, and is on both the number one powerplay , and penalty killing units.

Although he has already begun to climb the Canadiens’ depth chart, Shasby will likely climb even higher if he continues to develop at his current pace. His early season success indicates a much higher up-side than even the most optimistic scouts first realized. An entire season at his current pace could see Shasby not only being mentioned in the same breath as Hainsey and Dyment, but being mentioned first.