What the Montreal Canadiens Need to Do to Survive in Atlantic Division Next Season

With next season getting back to the normal schedule and divisions, there is a lot to do this offseason for the Montreal Canadiens, especially considering the Atlantic Division might be the strongest in the NHL.

Here’s a reminder of what that division looks like, in case you’ve gotten too used to the Canadian Division:

The Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning have now won back-to-back Stanley Cups and could very well win a third one. The Panthers are stacking up and getting ready to fight. The Leafs are an extremely good regular-season team, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. And the Canadiens, well they just went to the Final and will be aiming to win the Cup after getting that close this year.

The Bruins and Senators, on the other hand, aren’t as predictable. They could either play very well and be great or struggle a ton.

The Sabres and Red Wings, though, will probably be the bottom two in that division.

But nonetheless, these are four very strong teams and two completely unpredictable teams, and if the Canadiens want a shot at having a good year and a deep playoff run, they will need to make some changes this offseason.

Since it’s likely they will be losing Phillip Danault to free agency, and because of Shea Weber’s injuries, they will need to find a replacement for defence and fill Danault’s spot at centre, if they want to be a Cup-contending team, but at what price?

With Weber on LTIR, it does give them more cap space, but how much of that are they willing to spend and where?

I would say, definitely not at centre. At least, it shouldn’t be the focus right now.

Nick Suzuki has shown how much he has developed and how talented he is, so I definitely think he deserves to be the first-line center, and with the chemistry he’s built with Cole Caufield, that’s 2/3 of the first line. On the left-wing, it would make sense to either keep Tyler Toffoli with them, or put a playmaker who could set up plays for these young guys, and who better than Jonathan Drouin?

General manager Marc Bergevin confirmed that Drouin will be ready for training camp in September, meaning he should be able to start the season with his teammates.

For the other three centers, the Canadiens have Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling, who were offered qualifying offers yesterday, and Jake Evans, who showed how important he is to the team during the playoffs.

As for the right and left wings, it depends on who the Canadiens decide to re-sign, or which new players they acquire, but that shouldn’t be too concerning right now.

On the other hand, their blueline does need improvement, and a great addition would be pending UFA Dougie Hamilton. If they can sign him, I could either see him playing on a pair with Jeff Petry or Joel Edmundson. Ben Chiarot would play with the other, and there would be many third-pair combination possibilities with Alexander Romanov, Brett Kulak, and others, depending on whether or not the Canadiens end up signing David Savard and Chris Wideman.

During the regular season, Hamilton had a record of 10-32-42 in 55 games played, and 2-3-5 in 10 playoff games. These are almost the same as Petry’s records of 12-30-42 and 0-6-6 respectively, except for the fact that he played 20 games in the playoffs.

Having Hamilton on the Canadiens’ blueline would give them another great source of offence, which was something they definitely they lacked and struggled with this past season.

Ultimately, it would give them a better shot at surviving the terrific Atlantic Division I’m expecting, making it to the playoffs, and getting closer to the ultimate prize.