The Montreal Canadiens are in the stretch drive of their 2023-24 season. No one should be surprised that game 82 of the regular season will be the last time we see this year's version of the Canadiens as the playoffs were not an expectation of this team from day one.
They did get off to a better than expected start and hung around the fringes of the playoff picture for a little while, but they just don't have the depth to get into the top eight in the Eastern Conference yet.
Once Kirby Dach was injured and esepcially after Sean Monahan was traded, this team just didn't have what it takes to win on a regular basis. They have now tumbled down to the bottom ten and nearly into the bottom five of the NHL standings and are staring at a top pick yet again.
That means we are now focused on the future as Canadiens fans and the future does look bright. Juraj Slafkovksy was taken with the first overall pick in 2022 and David Reinbacher was selected with the fifth overall pick a year later. Both of those players look like future cornerstones of this franchise but there is more on the horizon as well.
The defense especially looks like it could be a juggernaut soon enough with Logan Mailloux and Justin Barron joining Reinbacher on the right side and a plethora of options on the left side including Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Jayden Struble, and Arber Xhekaj who are all already contributing at the NHL level and are in their early 20's meaning they will be around for a long time.
There are other prospects in the system as well and some of them need to get a contract soon or they could walk away. Here are five players the Canadiens can not wait to get signed and need to get them locked into a contract as soon as possible.