Canadiens: The Many Candidates to Form an Elite First Line For Habs

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The Montreal Canadiens appear to be headed into a busy offseason in the coming weeks.

They have just six games left to play this season and all that is left to sort out is whether they finish 32nd or 30th overall in the final standings.

Once that is figured out, the new management team is going to be quite busy building this organization for the future.

Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes were hired as the team’s new Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and General Manager because the team had bottomed out. Marc Bergevin was fired and the newcomers arrived to try and build this team into a contender once again.

Though the current Canadiens have sunk to the bottom of the standings, there are some key building blocks in place.

Most importantly, the team already has two-thirds of an elite first line. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have been two of the few bright spots in the 2021-22 season, and have given fans something to be excited about and to cheer for in the second half of a lost season.

Since new head coach Martin St. Louis took over, both forwards have 30 points in 31 games. They are clearly first line talents and since Suzuki is 22 years old and Caufield is 21, they are just showing us the tip of the iceberg in their NHL careers.

What they need is a third piece on that line. When the Habs find another winger to lock in next to Suzuki and Caufield they are going to have a dangerous trio will provide offence every night.

The best teams in the league these days lean on their first line heavily. Everyone likes to talk about depth and rolling four lines, but when the rubber hits the road, the Colorado Avalanche put Nathan MacKinnon with Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog.

The Boston Bruins always go back to the Perfection line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand. The Toronto Maple Leafs found a winning combination with Auston Matthews between Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting.

The Carolina Hurricanes have used Sebastien Aho with Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov all year. The Tampa Bay Lightning have a great team but everyone falls in line behind Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat.

Every great team has an excellent first line. The Canadiens are not a great team this season, but they are already two-thirds of the way to an excellent first line.

Who could join Suzuki and Caufield next season to give them this elite production at the top of the depth chart?

Apr 3, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Josh Anderson Jonathan Drouin Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports /

The Internal Options

This line was originally completed by Tyler Toffoli and the trio carried the team offensively all the way to the Stanley Cup Final last season. With Toffoli now gearing up for another potentially lengthy postseason run with the Calgary Flames, auditions have been open for some time.

Josh Anderson

Josh Anderson has looked great on this line at times, but he doesn’t seem to have the offensive consistency or creativity to fit perfectly with Suzuki and Caufield. Anderson has all the tools to be a great player as his combination of size, speed and skill is unique in the NHL but does he have the offensive acumen to score 80 points like Suzuki and Caufield? Or is he a better fit as a complementary scorer on a second or third line? Probably the latter.

Jonathan Drouin

Looking at pure left wingers currently in the organization and there isn’t a lot of options. Caufield has been playing the left side with Anderson on the right, but ideally Caufield would be on his natural right wing and the third member of this trio would be a left winger. Jonathan Drouin is the team’s best offensive left winger at the moment, but he has missed so much time with injury it is unlikely he would fill this role full time.

Joshua Roy

Not currently on the roster, but a star in the making is Joshua Roy. He has 43 goals and 106 points in the QMJHL as an 18 year old and is second in league scoring. Roy was an absolute steal as a 5th round pick in last year’s NHL Draft and looks to be a point producing machine for the Habs in the future. But he’s just 18 years old and is likely not ready to do it next season. He should be allowed to play one more year of Junior, completely dominate again, represent his country at the World Juniors, get traded to a contender at the QMJHL trade deadline and go on another long playoff run. Then turn pro and fight for a spot on the top line in 2023-24.

Apr 16, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; David Perron. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Free Agent Options

Maybe the best option is not already in house. With all due respect to Drouin and Anderson, their consistency issues and health concerns don’t make them the ideal candidates to rely on for such a prestigious role. Perhaps the Canadiens have to look outside the organization to find the perfect complement to Suzuki and Caufield. Fortunately, there are numerous great options available in free agency this offseason.

David Perron

One option about to hit the free agent market would be a perfect fit. David Perron is from nearby Sherbrooke and has all the tools to fill a top line role. He plays a terrific two-way game for the St. Louis Blues alongside perennial Selke Trophy candidate Ryan O’Reilly. While playing a great defensive game against tough opposition, Perron has also scored at about a point per game pace each of the past two seasons. He will be 34 when free agency opens which might allow the Habs to get him at a shorter term than other big name free agents.

Claude Giroux

Similar to Perron, Giroux may consider signing in Montreal since he is French-Canadian, from nearby(ish) Hearst, Ontario and played his Junior hockey in Gatineau on a stacked Junior team that included Paul Byron and Mike Hoffman. He is a versatile forward who can still play centre but has played left wing quite a bit over the past few years. He will also be 34 years old when he signs his next contract and though it won’t be cheap, the term won’t be extremely long which has to look good to Montreal right now.

Andre Burakovsky

The Colorado Avalanche are loaded up for a long playoff run but they could lose a lot of important pieces after the season. Andre Burakovsky could be one of those players as the Avs just don’t have the cap space to keep everyone. The Capitals first round pick from 2013, Burakovsky has exploded offensively since leaving Washington for Colorado. The 27 year old has scored 147 points in 184 games since joining the Avalanche. With offensive linemates like Suzuki and Caufield, he could continue scoring at that 65 point pace over an 82 game schedule.

Mar 19, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Jonathan Marchessault. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

Trade Options

Sometimes trying to fill holes via free agency gets too costly. And sometimes players just don’t want to sign with Montreal and donate a hefty portion of their paycheque to the provincial government where taxes are much higher than most other areas in North America.

Jonathan Marchessault

A Cap-Rouge, Quebec native would be an interesting target for the Montreal Canadiens. Of course, it also helps that Jonathan Marchessault is capable of scoring at a point per game pace and is a legit first line winger. He has scored 29 goals and 63 points in 70 games this season, but the Vegas Golden Knights are in some very difficult cap trouble and need to move someone. If Marchessault is on the block with just two years of term on his contract at $5 million, it would make a lot of sense for the Canadiens to offer a younger, cheaper player like Rem Pitlick or a 50% salary retained Drouin for Marchessault.

Kevin Fiala

Speaking of cap-strapped, the Minnesota Wild are about to have two players who no longer play for them taking up a combined $12.7 million. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were bought out by the Wild, but have enormous buyout penalties for next season. As a result, they might not be able to re-sign Kevin Fiala who is an RFA and has 73 points in 75 games this season. The 25 year old is due a huge payday, and would cost a lot of picks and prospects to acquire, but he could fit on that top line for the next half decade at least.

Maxime Comtois

Maybe the Canadiens management team doesn’t want to give up what it would take to acquire a player like Fiala. A younger player coming off a bad year like Maxime Comtois would come a lot cheaper, but provide plenty of potential. Comtois has an intriguing combination of size and skill, but has struggled this season to just 12 points in 47 games. He had 33 points in 55 games a year ago as a 22 year old so there is still plenty of potential. It wouldn’t cost a ton since he hasn’t performed this season, but there is a lot of upside in the second round pick.

MONTREAL, QC – JANUARY 19: Montreal Canadiens, Jeff Gorton (L) and Kent Hughes. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

What route should they take?

Ideally, the Canadiens don’t have to give up a ton of assets to acquire a player to fill this role. Suzuki was developed by the team and Caufield was drafted by the organization and brought along through the ranks. That’s the best way to develop star players.

The Canadiens may be doing the same with Joshua Roy, or perhaps even Sean Farrell. Roy is lighting up the QMJHL and isn’t even old enough to play in the AHL next season. Farrell scored 28 points in 24 games in his first college season and is already a friend of Caufield’s from their days together with the United States Development Team.

Though one of them might develop into a first line star, they won’t be ready for that action next season. Neither of them are going to be playing pro next season and the could use a season of AHL development after that to fine-tune their offensive game at the pro level.

That means the ideal situation for the Canadiens is to invest in a short-term solution while Farrell and Roy continue to develop at lower levels.

The perfect scenario would be to sign David Perron to a short term contract with a high cap hit. He will be 34 years old this summer, but has 55 points in 62 games so he will want a big contract. If the Canadiens can get him to agree to a two-year contract with a bigger cap hit, like, say $6.5 million, it would be a perfect fit.

Perron could keep up with Suzuki and Caufield offensively while teaching them the finer points of the defensive game. He has experience winning a Stanley Cup as a two-way threat with Ryan O’Reilly and would be the perfect mentor for the younger players in the organization.

Not to mention, he could help groom Joshua Roy for that first line role as well with some guidance at training camp and support when they are eventually teammates.

The Canadiens already have an incredible duo in Suzuki and Caufield. Playing with Perron for two years would bring their games to a new level, and bridge the gap before they are playing alongside another young star in Roy or Farrell.

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