By JD Lagrange – Well, here we are on July 8th. As a Canadiens’ fan, it’s been a rather underwhelming off-season thus far. It’s particularly true when considering that for a second season in a row, the team was eliminated from playoffs’ contention not too long after we had to put the Christmas tree away.
For one thing, many fans felt cheated when Carey Price attempted to remember David… David… Reinbacher as the fifth overall pick. Truth being that few fans knew much about him and, like a year ago with Shane Wright, many fans had their sights and hopes on the controversial Russian Matvei Michkov. Now that we’ve gotten to know Reinbacher more, most fans are okay with the decision.
Where many fans are hung up, particularly that most fans are okay with the rebuild, is with the lack of trades, and even buyouts. The Canadiens paid a hefty price to acquire Alex Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche and, at the time of writing this, he has yet to put his name on a new contract. And Joel Edmundson has found a new home in the US Capital, joining Alex Ovechkin’s group.
Further, as explained yesterday by my colleague Bob Trask, the Canadiens’ cap situation is not ideal for a team in a rebuilding mode. Losing Edmundson only freed up $1.75 million as they kept 50% of his $3.5 million.
Too many men
There is still time, and many players haven’t found new homes around the NHL and in order to accommodate some of these players, teams will have to do some salary cap gymnastic. But the Canadiens’ numbers, both in salary cap and in amount of NHL bodies, is far from ideal. You have overpaid, under-producing veterans blocking the way to young, hungry and NHL-ready prospects.
Pay no attention to the line combination as the purpose of this exercise, presenting it this way, is simply more impactful visually than dressing a list, to show the surplus of players available. The asterisks are players that DO NOT have to go through waivers. Everyone else does need to clear before being sent to Laval.
Forwards
There are legitimately at least 19 forwards who have shown that can play at the NHL level, some of them obviously having shown more than others.
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach
Alex Newhook – Sean Monahan – Josh Anderson
*Juraj Slafkovsky – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher
Mike Hoffman – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
*Rafaël Harvey-Pinard / Rem Pitlick / Michael Pezzetta
*Emil Heineman / Lias Andersson / Jesse Ylönen / *Owen Beck
And that doesn’t include a situation if youngsters like Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, Lucas Condotta or others who might impress at camp.
ANALYSIS:
- If the Canadiens felt like then 18 year-old Slafkovsky was better served developing at the NHL level a year ago, and refused to send him to the World Junior Championships, what are the odds that they will feel like he should go to Laval when he’s a year older, and more mature?
- Harvey-Pinard has clearly proven that he is not only NHL-ready, but that he can contribute to the team at that level.
- According to Rocket’s coach Jean-François Houle, Heineman is very close to being NHL-ready. Of course, he will have to prove that at training camp but he had a great camp a year ago. What if he does again this year?
- While I understand not buying out Armia because he has two years left to his contract, I strongly believe that the Canadiens missed the boat by not buying out Hoffman (they had until June 30th to do so). If they can’t trade him, he will be taking a spot and valuable ice away from a more deserving youngster.
Defensemen
The picture on defense has become clearer when veteran Joel Edmundson was traded to the Washington Capitals a few days ago.
Mike Matheson – *Justin Barron
*Kaiden Guhle – David Savard
*Arber Xhekaj – *Jordan Harris
Chris Wideman – Johnathan Kovacevic
ANALYSIS:
- At first glace, that’s not a defense that will bring a lot of protection for a goaltender. Young guys should continue their progression but with it, will come mistakes.
- Basically, the Canadiens could chose to go with eight defensemen but that would simply compound the issue at forward, needing to cut one more skater up front. As it stands right now, I could see a rotation between Xhekaj, Harris, Wideman and Kovacevic.
- In my humble opinion, Matt Dumba would have been a good pick-up (at the right price) as a UFA. As a stop gap while Mailloux develops in Laval, Dumba is right-handed, is a good skater, is physical and has a cannon of a shot, which the Canadiens could use for the power play. At the time of writing this, he still has not signed with anyone yet.
Goaltenders
Contrarily to many Habs’ fans, I am not sold (yet) on Montembeault as a starter and we know that Allen is a quality backup, but not a starting goaltender. In my opinion, in spite of drafting a few goaltenders (a few years away from the NHL), Hughes also missed an occasion to improve the situation between the pipes.
Jake Allen
Samuel Montembeault
Cayden Primeau
ANALYSIS:
Unless a trade occurs involving a goaltender, one of them will have to be sent down to Laval and the most likely candidate is, of course, Primeau. While I personally doubt that he would be claimed when sent down from camp, it is always a risk and one that the Canadiens can’t really afford, from a position of weakness.
Conclusion
There is clearly too many men on the ice for the Canadiens, too many players who can play in the NHL. Kent Hughes has a couple of contracts to negotiate with Newhook and Ylönen, but he has a lot more work to do before he can take the month of August to recharge before what promises to be a very competitive training camp for the Canadiens. He definitely has his work cut out for himself… but there is still time to do it.
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