Montreal Canadiens at a Crossroads: Analyzing the Three Directions the Franchise Can Go From Here
Stay the Course Route
The Canadiens could possibly point to their success last season, and their solid play under new head coach Martin St. Louis and decide to keep it on the same path.
Since St. Louis took over, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki are looking like superstars. Why do a rebuild and hope to get a couple of young, first line players when you already have two of them in place?
The team was dreadful before St. Louis arrived, and lost their first three games with him behind the bench. Since then they have gone 8-3-2. That is an impressive run, but it is a short one as well. Is this team built for long term success?
Remember that staying the course would mean getting a healthy Carey Price back next season. A top six of Suzuki, Caufield, Anderson, Christian Dvorak, Rem Pitlick and Jonathan Drouin isn’t bad. A third line with Lehkonen, Gallagher and Ryan Poehling could be a solid two-way contributor.
That would still leave Mike Hoffman, Joel Armia and Jake Evans as a solid fourth line.
The defence could be built around a top pairing of Joel Edmundson who barely played this season and hopefully a rejuvenated Jeff Petry. Alexander Romanov and David Savard would be on the second pair to fill out an okay top four on defence.
The only method of success is terrific goaltending behind them, but that could come in the form of healthy Carey Price and Jake Allen.
Signs They are Heading in This Direction:
The rest of the trades made between now and the deadline are pending UFAs traded for draft picks. Chris Wideman, Mathieu Perreault and Laurent Dauphin might not have much value on the trade market, but it makes sense to get something for them rather than let them go for nothing.
A big sign that the team might be looking to stay the course here would be the re-signing of Brett Kulak. He has been better under St. Louis, and is 28 years old. The team could probably get a 4th round pick for him if they are rebuilding, but might want him to stick around and see if this team next season can be a lot closer to its 2020-21 version and not its current version.