The Montreal Canadiens will be one of the most intriguing teams to follow this NHL off-season.
The Canadiens may have overachieved in the minds of some this past season, but not in the minds of their management.
The Habs got into the playoffs last year by being a plucky, resilient group, but Canadiens brass won’t kid themselves when it comes to improving on that surprising playoff appearance. Being an Atlantic Division team means that it’s going to be extremely difficult for Montreal to keep up in terms of improving from year to year.
GM Kent Hughes will have to be aggressive on the trade front this summer to bring in the type of talent the Canadiens need not only to stay in the post-season picture but to vault even higher in the food chain.
That said, there are some hurdles for Montreal as it tries to solidify its position in the Atlantic. The Canadiens only have $6.1 million in salary cap space, and they have two notable UFAs in center Christian Dvorak and right winger Joel Armia, as well as RFA left winger Emil Heineman. Thus, Hughes must be creative in trades more than anything he can do in free agency.
Being a big-time player in trades makes a lot of sense for the Canadiens at this point in their competitive trajectory. Montreal has had to grit its teeth and be patient as the team underwent a basement-to-ceiling rebuild. They had three straight seasons where they finished dead last in the Atlantic and focused on drafting and developing their lineup.
Now, Montreal needs to move forward with youngsters, including budding stars Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, as well as prospects Michael Hage, David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux, and firm up their core by acquiring a few veterans with a winning pedigree.
They can do that by trading some of the draft picks they’ve acquired, as in this summer’s draft, the Habs have two first-round picks, two second-rounders, three third-rounders and two fourth-rounders. Next summer, they have nine picks, including two second-rounders. Montreal doesn’t need to stockpile picks the way it’s done earlier in this rebuild. It’s time to pivot to being an organization focused on winning now.
The Canadiens should look at the Colorado Avalanche to see how to pivot. From 2011 through 2017, the Avalanche failed to make the playoffs in six of seven years. The Avs had one playoff year as a blip on their radar, but for the most part, they weren’t talented enough to be a playoff contender, let alone a Stanley Cup contender.
However, from 2017 onward, Colorado slowly built itself into a playoff powerhouse, adding important players, including Nazem Kadri, Devon Toews, Josh Manson, Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen to surround key components Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar. And voila – they won a Cup in 2022.
That’s a template the Canadiens must follow. They don’t have to acquire someone like Pittsburgh Penguins icon Sidney Crosby – although that would be something, wouldn’t it? – but Montreal does need to add at least a few experienced-but-effective hands to complement core players Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Jake Evans, Kirby Dach and Kaiden Guhle.
If Hughes can do that, the Habs will have enough talent to secure a wild-card spot next season, and perhaps, move even higher in the division. From there, it’s all about learning lessons from playoff series – like the lessons they hopefully learned in their first-round loss to the Washington Capitals this past season – and evolving into a bona fide Cup threat.
The Canadiens should no longer be satisfied taking a back seat to most teams. Certainly, they’re not in a position to battle for first place in the Atlantic just yet, but finishing in the basement of the division is now completely unacceptable. Montreal has to set the bar higher, and if Hughes can go out and acquire some veterans to raise expectations next season, there’s a good chance the Habs will assert themselves as a team to reckon with.
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