Canadiens: Three High Scoring UFAs Habs Could Realistically Sign

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The Montreal Canadiens are in a bit of a tailspin as we speak. They pulled out a huge win over the Boston Bruins on November 11th, but then lost four consecutive games, including a rematch with the Bruins on Saturday night.

It is not just that the team has lost four games in a row, but they are pretty much done after 20 minutes in a couple of them. The Bruins loss is one example where they just looked completely outmatched from the drop of the puck. The play was mostly in the Canadiens zone for the first period and Jake Allen faced a barrage of Bruins shots.

The same could be said for Cayden Primeau when he was facing the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night. There was a total of 19 shots fired his way in the first 20 minutes of the game and he was worn out by the time the final buzzer sounded. The Canadiens defense just couldn’t slow down those two Stanley Cup contenders, and their offense was no match for the opposing team’s attack either.

We can expect plenty of natural growth on the blue line as the young players already playing like Kaiden Guhle, Justin Barron and Jordan Harris get better and are also joined by even more highly touted youngsters in the near future like Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher. That will take time but the team has the makings of a great defense in 2025-26, they just need to gain experience and mature as players.

They are showing they may need some help up front. Scoring has long since been an issue in Montreal and while Cole Caufield will be a big help, the team still has zero goal scorer Josh Anderson on the top power play because there really aren’t many other options.

Dipping into free agency is a risky venture, but there are some upcoming free agents who could help put pucks in the net and also could reasonably choose to join the Canadiens next season. Let’s take a look at three players who fit that description.

Jun 14, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Montreal Canadiens Cole Caufield. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

Tyler Toffoli

The Canadiens do not have a lot of luck signing unrestricted free agents. A recent story came out where Mike Hoffman was asked why he chose the Canadiens in free agency instead of re-signing with the St. Louis Blues and he simply said they offered more money.

That is always the case when it comes to playing in high tax and low temperature markets like Montreal. There are just so many reasons to sign elsewhere, that the allure of a hockey mad market does not always work. In fact, in a lot of cases it probably scares players off as they don’t want to be hounded at the supermarket about the team’s struggles when they are trying to find that perfect peach.

Tyler Toffoli is one recent exception to that rule. He chose to sign with the Canadiens in 2020 and inked a four year contract with a reasonable cap hit of $4.25 million. That certainly was not a massive overpay to lure him to Quebec, so why wouldn’t he want to come back again?

The team has really been searching for someone to play with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield since Toffoli left, so why not reunite the trio that was so good as the team made a run to the Stanley Cup Final?

Toffoli will be 32 this summer, making him a bit older than the ideal linemate for Suzuki and Caufield, but you know he fits perfect with them. He is currently scoring at a point per game pace with the New Jersey Devils after a career high 73 points with the Calgary Flames last season.

He would be a great fit on the top line and help this team take a big step forward next season.

Jonathan Marchessault

The Canadiens have not made a lot of free agent splashes recently, aside from Toffoli, but when they do spend in free agency it often happens to be on a local player. David Savard, Mathieu Perreault and Cedric Paquette are a few players they recently brought in as unrestricted free agents, and they are all from the province of Quebec.

Could Jonathan Marchessault be next? The star winger is in the final year of his contract and the Vegas Golden Knights are always tight to the salary cap and need to make difficult decisions every offseason.

With Marchessault turning 33 next month, the Golden Knights may decide to let him walk and spend their money elsewhere. That could give the Habs an opportunity to sign him to a reasonable contract to come and help them move along in their rebuild.

Marchessault is a heck of a player who just won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP by scoring 13 goals and 25 points in 22 games. He had 28 goals and 57 points last season in 76 games and already has nine goals in just 19 games this season. The late bloomer is not slowing down at all and would give the Canadiens a terrific goal scoring threat on the wing.

The Cap-Rouge, Quebec native starred for the Quebec Remparts over a decade ago and has played his pro hockey with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Vegas. Moving back to a colder climate after those stints wouldn’t be the most desirable destination for many players, but moving back close to home to play for the Montreal Canadiens would be fulfilling a life long dream for most hockey players from the province.

The Canadiens need scoring help and he would certainly bring it. Considering his hometown, he is definitely a potential target for the Habs in the offseason.

Steven Stamkos

Steven Stamkos has already spoken publicly about the lack of communication between the Tampa Bay Lightning and his camp on a contract extension. He expressed his bewilderment just before the season began as he has been eligible to sign an extension that would kick in next season since July 1.

The team seems to want to wait it out and see how the year goes, but what else does Stamkos have to do to prove he is worthy of a contract? He had 34 goals and 84 points in 81 games last season and reached 100 points for the first time in his career the year before that.

He is a veteran of over 1000 regular season games and has scored 500 goals and 1000 points, all with the Lightning since being picked first overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. If that isn’t enough to prove he is worth keeping, he has burst out of the gates this season with seven goals and 20 points in 17 games.

But, if his team doesn’t want to keep him, he will hit the open market next summer. Why exactly would he choose the Canadiens when he would surely have plenty of options? Well, when Stamkos arrived in the NHL a star winger named Martin St. Louis was the leader of the Lightning and would have taken Stamkos under his wing and helped him become a pro.

The two were longtime linemates and played regularly together until St. Louis was traded in 2014. Stamkos blossomed into a star goal scorer with St. Louis feeding him passes. With St. Louis now behind the Canadiens bench, they could rekindle their mentor-protege partnership with St. Louis in a new role.

Also, what would be better for Cole Caufield’s career than learning the ropes on scoring goals from Steven Stamkos? Also, as a former first overall pick who was kind of buried for a little while as a rookie, Stamkos would have invaluable advice for Juraj Slafkovsky as well.

On a team desperate for goals, adding Stamkos to the top six to play with Suzuki and Caufield or even on a line with Kirby Dach and Slafkovsky would leapfrog the Habs way ahead in their path to becoming contenders.

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