Montreal Canadiens Send Down 2022 First Rounder

The Montreal Canadiens have announced they've sent down forward Filip Mesar to the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers. Mesar was the team's second first-round pick in 2022, selecting the Czechia forward with the 26th overall pick.

Les Canadiens ont cédé l'attaquant Filip Mesar aux Rangers de Kitchener dans l'OHL.

The Canadiens have loaned forward Filip Mesar to the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/eK70gCxlmi
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 15, 2022

Mesar was in tough to stick the entire season in Montreal, but even being on the AHL roster to this point was a bit of a surprise for the 18-year-old. He'll now look to dominate junior hockey in Ontario after appearing in one game for the Laval Rocket.

Here are how some 2022 NHL first-rounder did in their AHL debuts tonight:

--Cleveland D David Jiricek (6th) -- one shot
--Laval F Filip Mesar (26th) -- two shots
--Rochester F Jiri Kulich (28th) -- 0-1-1, three shots#AHL
— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsAHL) October 15, 2022

Filip Mesar is 18 years and 285 days old.
Should he score tonight he will tie Claude Lemieux for third-youngest #Habs player to score in the AHL. #GoRocket #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/dsWjw7EEiL
— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) October 14, 2022
Warmups underway at Place Bell ahead of #Rocket vs #Senators.

Filip Mesar (#10) making his AHL debut on a line with Jan Mysak and Lucas Condotta.

Follow ⁦@TheAHLReport⁩ for complete coverage.

Puck drops at 7:18pm ET. pic.twitter.com/g9ULpVzPrp
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) October 14, 2022

“I think Filip Mesar is better off scoring 80 points in the OHL than he is scoring 40 points in the AHL.” - Kent Hughes, noting he has spoken to Mesar’s agent and they are discussing where he will play this season.

But Hughes’ preference is obvious.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 12, 2022