3 Canadiens players who shouldn’t return next season
The Montreal Canadiens are still a rebuilding bunch, meaning some of their older players will be on the move for the upcoming offseason.
The Montreal Canadiens are an organization that should still see plenty of roster turnover on the big club as they continue to look toward the future. This is further confirmed thanks to the fact the Habs have just 68 points on the season and, if it ended today, would find themselves in last place in their division, thanks to tiebreakers.
Montreal is also the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference heading into the final weekend of March, ahead of only a Columbus Blue Jackets team that may be looking to embark on its own rebuilding quest. Despite the bleakness in the standings, it’s hard to say this season has come without a fair share of success.
Nick Suzuki recently hit the 30-goal milestone, and Cole Caufield has shown what he can accomplish when healthy with 20 goals and 55 points. Both players will be cornerstones, as will Juraj Slafkovsky, whose 41 points and 15 goals rank fourth on the team. Slafkovsky still has an outside chance to reach the 20-goal milestone this season, and that will be a significant momentum builder if he hits that number.
Not all current Canadiens players will see this rebuild through
The hope is that players like Suzuki, Caufield, and Slafkovsky remain Canadiens through most of, if not their entire careers. But for some players in the organization, their respective stints in Quebec should be coming to an end.
That won’t be the case for the young talent like those players mentioned above, plus most, if not all, pending restricted free agents for 2024 and 2025. Expect bridge deals for some, while general manager Kent Hughes may opt to sign others long-term if they impress him this season or at some point next year.
But whose time in Montreal will reach the end of the road this summer? Here are three names who must get traded to another club or refrain from returning to the team following a short stint elsewhere.
The Habs must trade David Savard this summer
David Savard’s name floated around the trade rumor mill earlier this season, but the Canadiens had no takers. Yet there is no reason for the 33-year-old to stick around a young team that should be looking for ways to move its older players while they still hold value, and Savard could at least warrant a mid-to-late-round draft pick in a trade or even a high-end B-prospect.
Looking at Savard’s stat line - both basic and advanced - there should be an adequate demand to trade for the experienced blueliner. Savard has provided sound help in the offensive zone with six goals and a rather good 11.8 shooting percentage with 18 total points, and he could still fit into the top-four with a team that needs a stopgap on the blue line for 2024-25.
He’s still blocking shots at a high rate, finishing checks, and logging short-handed minutes on units that have allowed fewer goals when he is on the ice. The same goes for his 5-on-5 game, where the Habs have given up just 44 goals while he’s out there, sitting well below one goal per game.
Overall, he would still bring value to the Habs, but moving Savard also means more assets for Kent Hughes, and that must take top priority at the moment.
A Sean Monahan comeback story must not happen
There will always be some of us holding out hope that a familiar face will return after his “rental” status is complete following the season. For the Canadiens, that player is Sean Monahan, who played in just 25 games for the Habs last year and logged 17 points and a remarkable 18 takeaways.
He was also spectacular this year, scoring 13 goals and 35 points in 49 games, and he also registered nearly half a takeaway per matchup. His performance and the major need for the Winnipeg Jets to improve their depth prompted general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to acquire him for a first-round pick this season and a third-rounder in 2027, adding even more high-end future assets for the Canadiens.
So far, it’s been a win-win for the Habs and Jets, but it would be a bonus if Monahan leaves Winnipeg, perhaps with a Stanley Cup added to his resume, returns to Montreal, and helps lead this team back to respectability. This isn’t happening, nor should it, as the 29-year-old needs to cash in following what has been an ultra-productive year.
To be fair, it also won’t happen in Winnipeg, but Monahan will earn a more lucrative deal for at least a few years with one of the league’s other 30 franchises. He was valuable to the Canadiens, so perhaps Kent Hughes will parlay that first-rounder into something golden.
Joel Armia could fill the lower lines of a contender
Few current players on the Montreal Canadiens have stuck around for as long as Joel Armia, as the 30-year-old has been with the team since the Habs acquired him in the 2018 offseason. In those six years, Armia helped Montreal reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, appearing in 21 playoff games with five goals and eight points to show for it.
During his time with the Canadiens, we have often seen him logging middle-six minutes, but filling the lower lines may be more appropriate for Armia at this point in his career. He hasn’t been as physical over the past two seasons, but he is still good at using his stick to disrupt plays and to take back puck possession.
Armia is also effective on the penalty kill, and he’s amassed 165 minutes at 4-on-5 this season, the first time he’s reached triple-digits since the 2016-17 seasons when he was with the Winnipeg Jets.
While his 48.4 Corsi For at 5-on-5 is nowhere near the best of his career, Armia, if playing for an offensive-minded team, will still create chances in the offensive zone. His 92.1 on-ice save percentage at 5-on-5 also implies his defensive abilities remain sharp, and it provides further evidence that the lower lines should be his forte from 2024-25 and onward.
Armia could remain in Montreal as he has another year left on his deal, but he’s still productive enough to move for a mid-round pick if the right team sees value in him.
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(Statistics and data provided by Hockey-Reference)