Roundup: The Montreal Canadiens priority ahead of the offseason
What are the Montreal Canadiens going to do with all those draft picks? And what is the team’s priority heading into the summer? All this and more discussed amongst our writers.
1. The Montreal Canadiens have 25 picks in the next two drafts, what are the odds all 25 remain with the organization?
Scott Cowan: The NHL draft is one of the most unpredictable events in the NHL offseason, in regard to both drafting and trades. Most of the rumors are kept behind closed doors, and a lot can happen in the event’s short space of time. Personally, with that many picks, I doubt the Canadiens will keep all of them, and with certain 3rd and 4th round picks dealing a pair away for a low rent prospect and a pick could be a solid move.
The Laval Rocket seem to be turning a corner in their on-ice success and, more importantly, developmental success with rookies, so there’s no harm in the team acquiring some lesser prospects to boost Laval and potentially Montreal. Simply put, with that many selections, moving a few presents little risk, and some benefits in the right scenario.
Sebastian: While it is very possible that a few of these picks are shuffled around to either move up or down in the drafts, I expect the Habs to make in the region of 25 draft selections in the next two years, as this novel youth movement should stay in full swing.
Omar White: I feel it’s important to keep in mind where these picks are. Montreal’s first four selections should be safe this year, and it’s possible Marc Bergevin tries to package those later picks in an attempt to get more selections in the top-60, or at least he should considering how deep this year’s draft is meant to be.
The picks for next season are a different story and completely depend on where the Montreal Canadiens are. Bergevin wants the team to be competitive, and if they are, it’ll include giving up picks and other pieces to beef up before the playoffs. At the same time, the organization as a whole may start to feel they need more bodies than picks, regardless of what reality is telling them. Only time will tell.
2. What is your ideal Habs line up, and why?
SC: I think it would be in the Canadiens’ best interests to put some of their more offensive depth forwards with more talented players, as I found that some of the rookies this season, like Nick Suzuki, got weighed down being flanked by players like Jordan Weal. Whether Weal’s 10 points in 16 games performance last season was a sign of his skill or simply an effect of the post-trade deadline performance boost is still unclear, but there are parts of Weal’s game that suggests he’s capable of more, it’s just that he needs the benefit of talented players alongside him.
Keeping Gallagher on the first line alongside Danault and Drouin would be beneficial to keep Drouin’s defensive issues more in check, and a purely offensive second line with players like Max Domi and Joel Armia could be interesting to see.
OW: For starters, the Tatar-Danault-Gallagher line should be left intact. They’re a relentless trio that are amongst the best in the NHL at generating chances and recovering the puck down low. We start to get more creative when look going through the other forward lines.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi is back up with the team while Joel Armia and Ryan Poehling suit up along the walls. Armia and Kotkaniemi have played together in the past, and I think it would be interesting to see more of Poehling at left-wing. Poehling has a good frame and is strong enough to fight for his ice. Having both him and Armia in a more centralized position in the offseason could be an interesting experiment.
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Nick Suzuki proved how dynamic he can be at centre, and I’d want him playing with players who can bring the same nature on the wing. I’d want Jonathan Drouin on the left and Max Domi on the right. Domi usually plays left wing if he’s moved to the wall, but being a left-shot may grant him more options. At the same time, he and Drouin played well together during the 2017-18 season and would be worth a revisit.
On the fourth line, I’d have Jake Evans down the middle with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen. It could make for one of the fastest and hardest-working fourth lines in the league, given the nature of the players on it. It wouldn’t be ideal to have so much salary that low in the lineup, but hey, this is fantasy land.
I wouldn’t change too much on defence. Ben Chiarot and Shea Weber work as a top-pair while Victor Mete would suffer from the number’s game and play on the bottom pair with Brett Kulak. Now it’s time to have some fun. Alexander Romanov and Jeff Petry on the second pair! If both are playing at their peak with skating and constant chances from the blue line, it could be one of the most fun pairings the Habs have had in a while.
S: I would really love to see what Nick Suzuki could achieve whilst playing top-line minutes to start the season. Is that necessarily a great thing for his development? Nope. But it would just be so enjoyable to watch. In this hypothetical scenario, I would like to see him flanked by Drouin and Armia. These two wingers had some pretty solid chemistry during the start of this past season, and the latter would offer some consistency, physicality, and defensive acumen to ease the transition for young Nick Suzuki.
A second line of Tatar, Danault and Gallagher would be dominant and would give them some more freedom to produce offensively. A third line of Domi, Kotkaniemi and Byron would be a very interesting one to watch, as they could really light up the opposition’s third defensive pairing. I guess the fourth line would be composed of Lehkonen, Evans and Vejdemo/offseason addition.
On defence, I would like to see a Weber and Mete reunion, to see whether Mete is capable of handling bigger minutes and transition the play from defence to offence more efficiently. A pairing of Chiarot and Petry could conceivably result in Petry gaining much more freedom in the offensive zone, due to having a defensively-competent partner, and thus producing more points. A bottom pair of Romanov and Fleury would be an absolute joy to watch, can you imagine how many third and fourth liners would get absolutely annihilated when entering our zone?
This pairing alone would entice me to make a big bowl of popcorn for game nights! While I made this list accounting for the roster we have as of this moment (with the slight exception of Romanov), my approach changes a bit when it comes to the backup goalie spot. Obviously, Carey Price will be the starting goaltender going into next season, as well as the season after that, and the one after that… you get the point.
However, the backup goalie spot is completely up for contention. Charlie Lindgren will probably be the man if no addition is made, though Cayden Primeau could perform quite well in the role. However, I am crossing my fingers that one of Anton Khudobin or Jaroslav Halak signs here as they would each provide stability that we haven’t really had at the backup goaltender position in a long time.
3. Is there a priority contract that needs to be signed this offseason?
SC: Re-signing Max Domi should be a key focus for the Canadiens this offseason, even if he was shaky at times this season in terms of his consistency. Last season showed us his ceiling is remarkably high, and there’s still a chance for him to reach those heights again, especially being only 25 years old. Whether it will be a bridge deal or a longer-term contract remains to be seen, though, as the team has to take into consideration Domi’s struggles this year and his breakout season last year equally.
S: Max Domi is quite clearly the most pressing contract in need of re-signing this offseason. However, if we disregard his case and focus on the contracts that run out in 2021, a much more interesting discussion can be had. Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher and Jeff Petry all have a single year remaining on their respective contracts. The former and the latter of these four are a few years older than Danault and Gallagher and thus present a more difficult choice to be made. Resigning players performing at their peaks at the age of 31 can be risky.
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Just look at Ryan Kesler, who signed a 6-year deal at nearly $7 million per year at the age of 31 with the Ducks, off the back of a 20-goal, 47-point debut season with the Californian outfit. That contract didn’t kick in until a year later, but the season it did not encapsulate made the deal look alright before it even began, as he put up slightly better numbers than the previous year. However, after a solid performance in the first year of the contract, he was unable to top 14 points in his final two seasons of NHL play. Now he is on LTIR.
Of course, this is just one cherry-picked example of the worst-case-scenario of re-signing older players to big deals, but it does warrant some caution. So, while I expect Gallagher and Danault to re-sign, Tatar and Petry both present interesting, risky scenarios that are well worth keeping an eye on.
OW: The obvious answer here is Max Domi. He’s almost at the end of his two-year bridge deal with the Montreal Canadiens, had one great year, and one not so great year. That’s going to make negotiations on Domi’s end a little difficult. At the same time, it’ll be hard for management to be confident in committing long-term at top-dollar if they’re not sure what Max Domi they’re going to get.
Domi is the priority contract, but I’m not sure we get to the point where pen is put to paper. Marc Bergevin is a man of mystery, and trades come out of nowhere on his end more often than not. No one saw the Domi for Alex Galchenyuk coming in the first place, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see another move here.
The things are jam-packed at the moment, and it’ll be even tighter once Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling are up with the team. This may be an opportunity to move a forward to address other areas of need, one which is still the blue line. Yes, Alexander Romanov is coming, but it’ll be unwise to hold all our faith on rookie defenceman.
If Domi is signed, I assume it’ll be another bridge deal with a slight raise in salary. However, fans should keep their radar on high-alert here.
BONUS: Favourite Andrei Markov moment as a Montreal Canadien.
SC: Marc Andre Bergeron’s goal against the Washington Capitals, set up by Markov and Scott Gomez. This play always sticks in my mind when I think of signature Canadiens’ goals, and if anything, it demonstrated just how talented Markov was, both with his passing abilities, patience with the puck, and ability to truly quarterback a powerplay.
Marc Andre Bergeron was by no means a perfect defenseman, so much so that I categorize purely offensive defenseman as “Marc Andre Bergeron” style defenseman, but his offensive skills were undeniable, possessing an absolute laser of a shot that Markov was able to put to use throughout the season, and I believe this goal was just a culmination of all that. Right time, right place.
S: The memory of Markov scoring back to back slapshots against the Senators in the second period of a simple regular-season game in 2017 always makes me smile. It wasn’t the most important of games, but they were his last two goals as a Hab, and they were simply enjoyable to watch. It was made even sweeter by the fact that they came against the Sens, as this was when the Habs-Sens rivalry was still quite fiery. They were two very pretty goals to cap off a wonderful career!
OW: It was a play back in 2008 when the Montreal Canadiens had the New York Rangers pinned in their zone during the third period of a 5-2 game. The Rangers almost got the puck out, but Markov was at the point to keep it in the zone. After a wraparound attempt failed, the puck ended up flying into the air, and Markov caught it and set up for a shot.
Ryan Callahan got in front of the shot stinging him, but Markov followed up and rifled a hard cross-ice pass to Alex Kovalev at the right circle. It didn’t get by Henrik Lundqvist; however, some extra pokes from Tomas Plekanec got the job done.
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That may not be Markov’s best play in his career, but it’s an example of what kind of defenceman he was for the Montreal Canadiens. Never giving up and always looking to set someone up for an opportunity.