BROSSARD, Quebec -- Victor Mete Quinnen Williams Jerseys will start the season with the Montreal Canadiens, who think the 19-year-old defenseman has what it will take to remain in the NHL beyond a nine-game tryout.Mete will make his NHL debut in Buffalo on Thursday night when the Canadiens begin a three-game road trip leading up to their home opener against the Blackhawks on Tuesday."It will be a good test for him and it will be a good way to evaluate him also for us," Montreal coach Claude Julien said after practice Wednesday. "So there's a lot of positive there and right now we're starting with Victor thinking that he'll be here all year. We're certainly not thinking like how we might send him back after nine (games). I'd rather think positively and I think what he showed in preseason was very good and if that changes we'll deal with it then but right Braden Mann Jerseys now I'm planning on having him here for the year and that's the way we're all thinking actually as a group. So now it's up to him to continue to show those things that he showed us in preseason."

. and made the team. Now, they're primed to perform and succeed.READ -

Selected by Montreal with the 100th pick in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft, Mete was determined to defy the odds against him sticking with the Canadiens now rather than being returned to the London Knights for a fourth season in the OHL."Oh well that's good then," Mete said when he was told about Julien's comments. "That's kind of my mindset too is to try to stay Jarrod Wilson Jerseys here the 82 games, so if I can do that, that will be an honor for me."

MORE: NHL preseason power rankings: Habs in middle of the pack to startPaired with Shea Weber at the beginning of training camp, the 5-foot-9, 184-pound native of Woodbridge, Ont., made the most of his opportunity with four points in five preseason games. Mete, who scored his first preseason goal in Montreal's 9-2 win against Ottawa on Saturday, earned a spot when Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin finalized the season-opening roster Tuesday."He just said, 'keep playing your game, that's one of the reasons why you're still here, so just play your game and you should be fine,'" Mete explained.Mete's participation in Canada's world junior camp played an important role in getting prepared over the summer."I thought I was pretty good there and then had some stuff to Thomas Morstead Jerseys work on after that," Mete said. "And then coming into camp my mindset was just to do the best I can, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so I just kind of took every day day-by-day and this was my goal, was to play in the season opener. And now the goal is to stay as long as po sible."

MORE: Hockey Night in Canada: Schedule, teams, how to watchJulien said he didn't see Mete make any big mistakes during training camp and preseason games, only little ones that could be addre sed easily enough."But you look at those things and then you look at what he brought, like supporting the attack and not being afraid to go in there in the offensive zone and be part of the scoring opportunity, what he did on the power play," Julien said. "He seems to have lots of confidence. He's a cold-blooded kid as far as nothing seems to bother him, nerves of steel, call it what you want, but he doesn't seem to be rattled about anything. Jacob Martin Jerseys "Though his last name is pronounced "Meh-tay," the nickname "Meat" has followed him Thomas Hennessy Jerseys from junior to the Canadiens' dre sing room."I just hear my name screamed around the room a lot of times," said Mete, who has never seen Bull Durham.

Officiellement Buffalo.Officially in Buffalo.

Mete's parents, Joe and Mary, sister Julia and a large group of supporters will be looking on when he takes his first NHL strides at KeyBank Center on Thursday."Yeah, I think maybe the first few shifts I might be a little nervous but then after that I think I'll kind of ease into things," Mete said. "I'm expecting to keep playing the way I am and just give it my all."