Montreal Canadiens: Does Sean Monahan Contract Mean Pierre-Luc Dubois Not Coming?

The Montreal Canadiens signed Sean Monahan to a contract extension yesterday. It was a nice signing for the team as they got a player who scored 17 points in 25 games last season at less than $2 million for next season.

It is just a one year contract, but it will allow Monahan a chance to prove his value over a full season after missing much of 2022-23 with injuries. He could then hit the open market in 2024 off a better season and with the salary cap climbing rapidly and cash in big time.

Even though it is just a one year deal, it could have a significant impact on something long-term for the Canadiens. Or, at least, it could signal another player rumoured to be coming to Montreal may not be in the cards after all.

Pierre-Luc Dubois has made it known he wants to play in Montreal and is no longer interested in staying in Winnipeg and playing with the Jets. Rumours have run that the Canadiens could be interested in trading for him and signing him to a long-term contract. But is there still room?

With Monahan signed, the Canadiens now have Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Monahan, Christian Dvorak and Jake Evans as experienced NHL centers. That is five already on the roster, and Dubois would make it six. Now, teams do need more than four centers capable of playing at the NHL level, but if they were all healthy, how would they slot?

The only one who makes sense to play on a fourth line is Evans. Dvorak isn’t a top six center at this time and doesn’t seem versatile enough to just slide to the wing. That leaves four centers, Suzuki, Dach, Monahan and Dubois in the top six. I suppose Monahan could slide to the wing, but how does that impact his value? He has played almost exclusively at center throughout his career so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sign him to a “prove it” contract and then move him out of his comfort zone.

Dach could slide to the wing again, but the team claimed to be committed to trying to make it work with him as a center. That would be a wise decision as the young player has the potential to be a force as a puck carrying and forechecking middleman with size and skill.

Trading for, and signing Dubois to a huge contract, only to move him to the wing isn’t the wisest decision either. If he is going to live up to his extraordinary contract request, it is most likely to happen with him playing big minutes as a center.

You do need depth at the position. The Canadiens started last season with Suzuki, Dach, Dvorak, Monahan and Evans and Lucas Condotta ended up playing the last game of the season due to injuries. But Monahan isn’t the type of center you add just for some depth. He will slot in to the top nine somewhere and almost definitely plays center.

It doesn’t really leave room for Dubois as both him and Monahan may end up having to move to the wing. That would be a lot of cap space to spend on centers who are then asked to move to new positions.

Kent Hughes surely has a lot of balls in the air at the moment. Perhaps a center like Dvorak is on the way out soon, but if not, the Monahan signing could have been a Plan B for not getting Dubois to play down the middle.

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