Quotes of the day: Bouillon

MONTREAL - He may not be able to go visit them in person, but player development coach Francis Bouillon has been keeping up with Canadiens prospects virtually throughout the pandemic. On Wednesday, he gave a progress report on some of the organization's blue-line hopefuls in a Zoom call with the media.

Kaiden Guhle:
"Usually, I would've gone to see him twice or three times once the season started. Now, I've talked with one our scouts out West who's followed him a lot. I've spoken to Trevor Timmins, I've seen some clips, and I've spoken to him on the phone a few times. With development, it's about building a relationship with the young player. I would've liked to have met him already, but I think it's still to come. I've only heard good things about him. He's at Team Canada's World Juniors selection camp, too."

Cale Fleury:
"I think for Cale. It's a question of confidence. When he made the step from Junior to the AHL in Laval, he's kind of a shy guy. But he wants to learn; he's a sponge. When I met him when he was in Junior, and even in Laval, he wants to learn and he wants to be better. When he made the step up to Montreal, he was playing really well the first half of the season. After that, it seemed like he lost his confidence.
"I like his size, I like the way he plays: he's pretty physical, he's good defensively. What I think right now, it's only a lack of confidence. I'm pretty sure he's going to be a regular defenseman in the NHL one day."
Gianni Fairbrother:
Gianni is playing for a team in Western Canada at a bit of a lower level than the WHL. For him, it was really important to be playing. I spoke to him last week. He's happy to be playing again, because it had been several months since he last played [Fairbrother underwent surgery in mid-January]. I like the way he plays. He gets involved physically, he's a top defenseman on his team in the WHL."
Jacob LeGuerrier:
"He's a guy from Ottawa. He's training hard right now; he's at home. He's lucky to have a good place to train, in the basement of his strength coach who has a lot of equipment. He told me his training is going really well, and that mentally, he's doing well too."
Jayden Struble:
"The first time I saw him play, I was really impressed with the way he was moving for his size and that's what I wrote in my report. That's the type of guy that I like; he brings a little bit of everything with his game. He's physical; I didn't know he skated so well, he's mobile; he's pretty confident. Even if it was his first year [in college] last year, he was really confident. Even when I talked to him, I could tell he was pretty mature for his age. He's got a few more years to play college, but I think his future is really bright."
Jordan Harris:
"Jordan's progression is going really well right now. If I took his first year and I see him play now - it's going to be his third year - he's the top defenseman on his team. He's mature, he's playing well. Sometimes it's pretty funny, because when I met him after a game, it seems like he's not tired even though he played maybe over 30 minutes a game. He's good defensively, he's got a good stick and good reach. [The future is] really bright for him too."