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Canadiens Betting On Undersized, Uber-Skilled Winger

One of the Montreal Canadiens' recent draftees is another undersized player with tremendous skill that the organization is betting on.

Tyler Major-Mcnicol

Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; The draft board is seen following the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; The draft board is seen following the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Montreal Canadiens drafted five-foot-seven winger Cole Caufield April 25, 2025 Lane Hutson, LJ MOONEY IS GOING UP NORTH?

Well, both of them were a bet on their heart, skill and determination giving them the upper hand despite being too small. This sounds like the club's recent 2025 113th overall selection, LJ Mooney.

According to Elite Prospects, Mooney is listed as five-foot-seven, 157 pounds, and the dynamic level at which he plays shows why his size should be an afterthought. Mooney is part of the next wave of wingers that are small and elusive; he is almost like a water bug on the ice.

For some reason, well not some reason, his physical attributes, Mooney was overlooked 112 times, and he is the perfect example of 'It's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the fight in the dog.'

Despite being smaller than all of his teammates and opponents, he manages to make the largest impact on the ice when he strikes, which can come out in a variety of ways, including open ice hits, slick displays of elite puckhandling, deceptive skating patterns and all-out tenacity all the time.

For reference, Anton Frondell, the Swedish play that Mooney stapled along the boards, is the Chicago Blackhawks third overall selection in the 2025 Draft, who is six-foot-one, 205 pounds.

Mooney has the motivation of always being the smallest, and like Cole and Lane, the trio can draw inspiration from Canadiens coach and Hockey Hall-of-Famer Martin St. Louis (five-foot-seven, 175 pounds), who defied the odds and carved out a career of proving everybody that doubted or underestimated him wrong along the way.

Like St. Louis, Mooney will have to carve out a niche and find what it is that stands out about him and run with it. Mooney has already established that his high motor and tenacity are going to be a constant in his game, and thankfully for him, it could be just what earns him an NHL contract; it surely disrupts his opponents already.

There seems to be weight to the idea that Mooney could well have been a top-20 selection in the draft, had he been five-foot-10.

That is okay for Hughes, who has landed another great piece with high potential, that should be coached up nicely by the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers staff, led by head coach Bob Motzko, where he is committed to play in 2026-2027.

Until then, Mooney will return to the United States National Development Program to hone his skills and prepare for the mental and physical rigors of college hockey.

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Tyler Major-Mcnicol
TYLER MAJOR-MCNICOL

Tyler is a former Algonquin College journalism graduate, and passionate hockey fan. His love for the Montreal Canadiens comes second to his love of hockey. With two daughter’s under four years old, hockey is always a topic of conversation. Nothing gets me quite excited like an empty canvas waiting to have a story written on it, and the smell of fresh ice in the air.
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