Canadiens: Paquette, Perreault on Waivers Puts Focus Towards Rebuild

The addition of Cedric Paquette and Mathieu Perreault was a failed experiment for the Montreal Canadiens this season. There’s no getting around that.

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A former fourth round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2012 NHL Draft, Paquette gradually became a core part of the Bolts bottom six over his six seasons with the team. Developing a reputation as a tough, physical center with a penchant for clutch performances, Paquette recorded double-digit goals twice whilst winning a Stanley Cup with the team during the 2019-20 season.
For Perreault, a former sixth round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2006, he had brought quite the track record to the Canadiens as one of the more versatile players in the NHL. A long-time member of the Winnipeg Jets and key part of the team during their formative years, Perreault recorded four straight 40-point seasons from 2013-14 to 2016-17, though he had shown some notable regressions over the past few seasons.

Whilst still seen as late season additions and ones who value and ceiling was seen as expectedly low, I still had hope that Paquette and Perreault could nonetheless find roles on the Habs as decent depth options on the penalty kill and especially on the forecheck. Well, that didn’t happen, and quite frankly, this is something I ultimately should’ve seen coming. With Perreault having 3-2-5 totals over 18 games, and Paquette recording just two assists over 24, the Canadiens sent both players to the waiver wire on March 16th, where they have expectedly cleared. After a start to the season as poor as the one the Canadiens had, Paquette and Perreault ultimately became casualties of a frustrated fanbase and, as we’ve since come to find out, a completely unqualified and over-presumptuous once-head coach.

2020-21 wasn’t the greatest of seasons for either Paquette or Perreault (as compared to the Canadiens) and it was evident from the start that Montreal was going to get something of a dollar general/great value equivalent to the players they had once been. Yet, even still, no one could’ve seen things going this sideways. After being traded to the Ottawa Senators in December of 2020 Paquette was expected to form a part of a young, rebuilding team, and bring a solid veteran presence.

Instead, Paquette was nothing short of dreadful, with one goal and a -8 rating over nine games, ultimately being traded once more to the Carolina Hurricanes (along with former Hab Alex Galchenyuk) where he played decently in a bottom-six role to finish the season. Perreault, in spite of reduced 9-10-19 totals over 56 games, served in his usual Swiss-army knife role for the Jets and played solid hockey over the course of their series sweep by the Canadiens last post-season.

Ultimately though, these performances were nothing more than foreshadowing for their tenure with the Canadiens, even with Perreault giving fans one of, if the not the most memorable moment of this entire season. Recording a hat-trick in front of a packed Bell Centre crowd to give the Canadiens their first win of the season against the Detroit Red Wings, Perreault was given a standing ovation and named the games first star, a fantastic start he ultimately wasn’t able to keep up, dealing with numerous injuries to his eyes among other things. With just two assists over his other 17 games, both Paquette and Perreault have been largely, if not entirely, invisible, only showing up when they would rather remain in the background, either as the odd man out on the forecheck or the one to blame in one of the numerous blowout losses the Canadiens have suffered this season.
With the demotion of Cedric Paquette and Mathieu Perreault earlier this week, the Montreal Canadiens focus now shifts to the future.

With the demotion of Cedric Paquette and Mathieu Perreault earlier this week, the Montreal Canadiens focus now shifts to the future.

After numerous complaints from both fans and the media regarding the Canadiens lack of local, Quebec-born talent, former GM Marc Bergevin made a point to go out and get some, inking former Stanley Cup champ and long-time Columbus Blue Jacket David Savard to a multi-year deal, along with Paquette and Perreault, and AHL regulars in Jean Sebastien Dea. Yet, it’s really only been Dea funnily enough who has lived up to his expected role, with Savard having gone through a very up and down season prior to dealing with an ankle injury that has sidelined him since January 27th.

As for Paquette and Perreault, any brief fanfare they had in Montreal is now totally and completely gone, as sad as that may seem, and the Laval Rocket will subsequently get two more veteran talents, should they choose to report and play. Perreault hasn’t played in the AHL since he was fresh out of junior, making me wonder whether he’ll ultimately retire, and Paquette has posted similar offensive numbers to his NHL stint. With this though, it marks a much-needed trend for the Canadiens towards this rebuild their now fully committing to, and quite frankly, I think it’s all for the better.

I understand the cities want for local, homegrown talent, but unfortunately there usually just isn’t much of that sort available in the NHL nowadays (at least at a price the Canadiens can afford), and Montreal’s track record with the local QMJHL has been very hit and miss when it comes to drafting. Ultimately, Montreal’s history is built on well, the French language and it’s culture, and its something I would like to see more of with the team down the road, but this just simply isn’t the way to do it, and the faster the Habs admit mistakes were made, the faster they can move on and look towards what seems like an increasingly bright future.

Depth signings and acquisitions to plug holes in lineups does and similar doesn’t work in the NHL. Nick Ritchie with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Petr Mrazek with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nick Foligno with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Joe Thornton with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Okay, all jokes aside, you get my point.

At the end of the day, the Habs took a low-risk gamble with Paquette and Perreault, and it failed, as is often the case in the NHL. Yet, with them acknowledging it failed (instead of continuing to play the two for the sake of it) the Canadiens are making a much-needed push towards admitting mistakes, and most importantly, working towards this ever promising rebuild that looks like, it’s just about to get underway.