Pro Hockey Rumors

In a summer when many teams either looked to add to their rosters to aid in their expected playoff push or sold as part of their rebuilding process, the Canadiens have largely stood pat, opting to continue their current trajectory from the rebuild that began in the season following their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.  In doing so, they’ll be banking on continued development from their young core while hoping for better luck on the health front after dealing with considerable injury trouble in recent years.

Draft

1-5: RW Ivan Demidov, SKA-1946 St. Petersburg (MHL)
1-21: C Michael Hage, Chicago Steel (USHL)
3-70: C Aatos Koivu, TPS U20 (U20 SM-sarja)
3-78: C Logan Sawyer, Brooks Bandits (BCHL)
4-102: D Owen Protz, Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
5-130: RW Tyler Thorpe, Vancouver Giants (WHL)
5-134: G Mikus Vecvanags, Tukums (Latvia2)
6-166: C Ben Merrill, St. Sebastian’s School (USHS-Prep)
7-210: RW Makar Khanin, Dynamo St. Petersburg (VHL)
7-224: D Rasmus Bergqvist, Skelleftea AIK J20 (J20 Nationell)

Some expected Demidov to go as high as second overall with few figuring he’d be available with the fifth selection.  After passing on another high-offense winger the year before in Matvei Michkov, the Canadiens were happy to get their hands on a player who they believe could be a game-breaking talent.  While he’ll play this season in the KHL, he’s expected to sign with Montreal once that campaign ends, providing the possibility that he could get into a game or two with the Canadiens before the end of the 2024-25 season.

That won’t be the case for Hage, however.  After a strong second half in the USHL, Hage is on his way to the University of Michigan.  While some college prospects are one-and-done, the likelier scenario for Hage is that he spends at least two seasons with the Wolverines, allowing him to ease his way into a top role before turning pro.

To start the second day of the draft, the Canadiens turned to a bloodline they’re familiar with in Koivu whose father Saku spent 13 years with the team.  While Saku was in the NHL two years after being drafted, that isn’t expected to be the case for Aatos who will be looking to make the full-time jump to the professional ranks in Finland.  Sawyer, a big center is also a longer-term project even after reclassifying to start with Providence College this season instead of waiting until 2025-26.

In recent years, the Canadiens have opted to largely eschew drafting from the CHL, a decision that gives them a longer signing timeline with most of their picks; only Protz and Thorpe have to sign by June 1, 2026.  As a team carrying 21 players on entry-level contracts at the moment, their hope is that this approach will allow them more time to integrate their prospects into their minor league system and lessen the potential of having too many to sign at a certain time.  And with a dozen picks for 2025 already, they may be continuing that approach for a little while longer.

UFA Signings

F Alex Barre-Boulet (one year, $775K)
G Connor Hughes (one year, $775K)*

*-denotes a two-way contract

Arguably no team was quieter than the Canadiens on the free agent front this summer.  Their one move was to make an addition that some feel is more for their AHL team than Montreal.  Barre-Boulet played in a career-high 36 games with Tampa Bay last season, picking up nine points.  But the 27-year-old has been a high-end AHL performer, recording 302 points in 294 games over six seasons at the minor league level.  An offseason training injury to Rafael Harvey-Pinard could give Barre-Boulet a path to a roster spot to start the season but if that doesn’t happen, he’s likely to play a big role with AHL Laval pending waiver clearance.

Technically, Hughes was signed in the spring, inking this deal nearly a month before free agency opened up but with Montreal not doing anything else on the open market, we’ll note it here.  The 28-year-old has taken a unique path to this NHL contract.  After not landing a CHL opportunity in his junior career, Hughes spent the last seven seasons in Switzerland, working his way up from the second league to the NL where he posted a 1.73 GAA and a .940 SV% in 19 games with Lausanne last season.  He’ll also likely battle for playing time in Laval.

Trade Acquisitions

F Patrik Laine (acquired from Columbus)

Again, it’s a pretty small section to work with as GM Kent Hughes only made one addition on the trade front.  It was, however, a notable one as Laine immediately becomes Montreal’s highest-paid skater at $8.7MM for the next two seasons; the contract was enough of an issue that the Canadiens also received a second-round pick as part of the move to absorb the full cost of it.

Last season was a rough one on multiple fronts for the 28-year-old.  When healthy, he struggled to the point of even being healthy scratched.  Laine then underwent shoulder surgery and entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program soon after, only being taken out of that in recent weeks.  The end result was a career-low 18 games played with just nine points.  However, Laine was a point-per-game or better in his two previous years in Columbus and Montreal will be counting on at least somewhat of a return to form to give them a lift offensively.

RFA Re-Signings

D Justin Barron (two years, $2.3MM)
D Arber Xhekaj (two years, $2.6MM)

Again, you guessed it, it was a pretty small list of RFAs for the Canadiens to navigate.  Both blueliners broke camp with Montreal last season but wound up seeing time in the AHL with the Rocket in an effort to work on some areas of concern before returning to the big club.

Barron, a 2020 first-round pick, logged over 18 minutes a night when he was with the Canadiens, often seeing time in the top four.  With only one other veteran right-shot blueliner in the mix (David Savard) and the fact he’s now waiver-eligible, Barron should have an opportunity to cement himself as a full-time regular this season.

As for Xhekaj, his playing time has been a bit more limited so far, averaging under 16 minutes a night in his first two seasons.  The 23-year-old has been one of the better undrafted free agent CHL players in recent memory, going from being undrafted in 2021 to seeing NHL action the following year.  Montreal doesn’t have a lot of intimidating players on their roster and it stands to reason he’ll be penciled in to remain on the third pairing for at least the short-term future.  Worth noting is that Xhekaj remains waiver-exempt so if the Canadiens are looking to dip in and out of LTIR (or stay out altogether), he could be someone who gets papered to the minors somewhat regularly early on.

Contract Extensions

D Kaiden Guhle (six years, $33MM)
F Juraj Slafkovsky (eight years, $60.8MM)

Continuity was the theme of Montreal’s summer so it comes as no surprise that their most prominent transactions in July revolved around that.

The team wasted little time getting a max-term extension for Slafkovsky done, buying four years of extra club control in the process while respecting the salary structure of Nick Suzuki being their top-paid forward (before Laine took that on six weeks later).  The 2022 number one pick had a dreadful start last season, leaving some calling for him to spend time in Laval.  Instead, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis took a different approach, instead elevating Slafkovsky to the top line.  The move worked wonders as Slafkovsky picked up 16 goals and 19 assists in the second half of the season, showing signs of becoming the impactful power forward they want him to be.  Clearly, management felt that this was a sign of things to come and with this extension, Montreal’s top line is all signed through at least the 2029-30 campaign.

Meanwhile, management determined that Guhle is one of the building blocks on a back end that has gotten very young very quickly (with a few prospects still looking to make the jump).  The 2020 first-round pick has had injury issues in his first two professional campaigns but when he was in the lineup, he logged over 20 minutes each year.  Montreal will be counting on him to play a key defensive role both now and in the future on a back end that is still expected to have a fair amount of turnover over the next couple of years.  The deal buys two extra years of club control while giving Guhle a chance to hit the open market at 29, giving him a chance at another long-term deal.

Departures

F Lias Andersson (Biel-Bienne, NL)
F Filip Cederqvist (Frolunda, SHL)
F Arnaud Durandeau (Amur Khaborovsk, KHL)
D Jordan Harris (trade with Columbus)
D Brady Keeper (Poprad, Slovakia)
D Johnathan Kovacevic (trade with New Jersey)
F Philippe Maillet (Ambri-Piotta, NL)
D Mattias Norlinder (MoDo, SHL)
F Tanner Pearson (PTO, Vegas)
F Mitchell Stephens (Seattle, two years, $1.55M)*
F Colin White (San Jose, AHL)
D Chris Wideman (retirement)
F Jesse Ylonen (Tampa Bay, one year, $775K)*

*-denotes a two-way contract

On the trade front, the Canadiens parted with a pair of regular defenders from the past two seasons, opening up room for some younger players to push for a spot.  Harris was the return going to Columbus in the Laine swap.  The 24-year-old has 131 career NHL contests under his belt already, establishing himself as a capable depth defender, a role he should be able to push for with the Blue Jackets.  As for Kovacevic, he was a waiver claim late in training camp in 2022 and more or less was a full-time player after that, getting into 139 NHL games since then.  Signed for one more year at a cap charge below the league minimum salary, Kovacevic is likely to have more of a depth role with New Jersey, barring injuries.

On the free agent departure side, Montreal didn’t lose any core pieces.  Ylonen played in a career-best 59 games last season but managed just eight points, resulting in a non-tender.  Pearson was acquired as a salary offset in a late-summer trade with Vancouver last year but had a very limited role while White, a late-season waiver pickup, failed to record a point in 28 NHL games last season.  Aside from Wideman (who didn’t play due to injury), the rest of the departures were from the AHL level; the Canadiens are opting to fill those roles with prospects and some veterans on minor-league contracts.

Salary Cap Outlook

At the moment, the Canadiens project to be a little more than $2MM above the cap ceiling, per PuckPedia.  However, that figure includes Carey Price ($10.5MM) who remains LTIR-eligible should Montreal not be able to get below the $88MM Upper Limit before the start of the season.  While staying in LTIR would give them a seven-figure bonus overage penalty for 2025-26 (as they have this season and had the year before), Price being on LTIR would give them more than enough space to operate with.  If they opt to stay in LTIR all season, it’s possible that they look to take on a contract from a team looking to open up extra cap space.

Key Questions

What Will Laine Provide? When Laine is at his best, he is a high-end goal scorer who can play around a point-per-game level.  If he can get back to that level, he can provide a significant boost to Montreal’s forward group, giving them some much-needed secondary scoring on a roster that has been in the bottom six in goals scored in three straight years.  But his struggles pre-injury with the Blue Jackets were certainly significant and after being off since mid-December, it’s far from a guarantee that he can get back to his top form.  Laine asked for a fresh start and now he has it; we’ll soon see if that can kick-start him after a rough 2023-24 campaign.

Is Hutson Ready For Prime Time? One of the storylines heading into the 2022 draft was Lane Hutson, a player with first-round talent but he was well undersized for a blueliner.  He slipped to the end of the second round and then lit up the NCAA for two seasons, securing his entry-level deal and getting into two games with Montreal to finish the year where he had two assists.  Will Hutson and his high-skilled offensive game be able to stick with the Canadiens or will he need time with Laval?  If Hutson can crack Montreal’s roster, he should become a second legitimate offensive threat from the back end, joining Mike Matheson who quietly finished ninth in points by a defenseman last season.

Can Dach Become A Full-Time Top-Six Center? After showing some promise down the middle late in 2022-23, Kirby Dach was slotted in as Montreal’s second-line center to start last season.  That lasted for all of four periods before he suffered a season-ending knee injury.  Injuries have been a consistent problem for the 2019 third-overall selection going back to his time with Chicago.  Nonetheless, the Canadiens didn’t look to add any help down the middle this summer; their only other potential center with some offensive upside is Alex Newhook who might be better suited on the wing.  Suffice it to say, they’re counting on Dach staying healthy and having a breakout year.  With Hage being at least a couple of years away and being their top center prospect, Dach has some runway to work with.  Can he become that core player the Blackhawks were counting on him to be five years ago?  This season might go a long way toward answering that question.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.