3 players the Canadiens can take from the Canucks in NHL free agency
Few teams have more pending unrestricted free agents than the Canucks, so one of them may land with the Montreal Canadiens come NHL free agency.
There are a few teams whose free agents could make for good fits on the Montreal Canadiens. And with quite a few pending unrestricted free agents on a strong Vancouver Canucks team, they could be one of a few franchises for general manager Kent Hughes to pick a few players from.
None of the players listed are game-changers, but the Canadiens have a few youngsters who are more than working toward filling that void, so they’re not needed. Plus, they will be hard to come by because of such limited cap space - even if Carey Price on LTIR gives them more to work with - should Hughes pour some of it into a potential extension for Juraj Slafkovsky.
But still, there is value here, and it starts with one of the more unprecedented players in British Columbia this year. There are also a pair of excellent supplementary pieces that would also fare well if they called Montreal home next season.
Dakota Joshua, F
Dakota Joshua is one pending free agent who could get a lot of attention this summer, and if it wasn’t for an injury that kept him out for an extended time, who knows what his final points marker would have been. If we do the math and adjust - he likely would have finished with between 41 and 42 points and 23 and 24 goals, so he may thrive as a depth or second-line winger whether it’s in Vancouver or elsewhere.
But what’s more interesting about Joshua is how well he would fare without so many of the league’s top points producers around him. There is a chance his overall points total, which was 32 in 63 games and 0.507 per contest, would have ended up even higher.
This is something Joshua would likely do in a place like Montreal while complementing solid but not elite scorers. This doesn’t mean Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky wouldn’t reach that level, but a young player like Joshua would have a chance to grow with them.
He would also make a great defensive asset, as we saw him on the ice for 17 more goals for than allowed at even strength with a 93.3 on-ice save percentage. The 245 body checks he landed last year are also a sign he’s more than okay with moving around opponents to disrupt plays.
Sam Lafferty, F
Sam Lafferty is another player with a style similar to Dakota Joshua’s, and he, too, isn’t afraid to get disruptive to break up plays and when in the offensive zone, to score a solid number of goals. You may scoff at the mere 13 times he found the net this season - a career-high, by the way - but let’s consider the 16.7 shooting percentage, which was also a career-high.
No, Lafferty probably wouldn’t hit that lofty number in Montreal, but it still shows that he’s got the ability to score a little more than you may think when he’s firing pucks at the net. Lafferty also outplayed his possession quality of minus-3.9 at even strength, finding himself on the ice for 34 goals for and 32 against.
It’s also worth pointing out that he did a much better job helping the Canucks move the puck and set up chances with a Corsi For of 48.2 at even strength. It doesn’t seem like a great number until you factor in that it was also a career-high in seasons when he played in at least 34 games.
The downside with a player like Lafferty over someone like Joshua is that the former doesn’t have the potential to stick around long-term, or at least that’s the case now. Dakota Joshua is a little younger, and the breakout campaign he enjoyed signifies that he could sign for a reasonable deal and be in Montreal for at least a few seasons.
Ian Cole, D
Ian Cole has worn a lot of sweaters throughout his long career, but he’s never worn one featuring the logo of an iconic Original Six team, so maybe that will change this summer. Like Sam Lafferty, Cole isn’t someone who would stay long, especially since he will enter his age-35 season, but he would be there to block shots and land checks on opponents for a year.
That doesn’t sound like anything fancy, and it doesn’t need to be, as it’s particularly been the name of Cole’s game starting in the 2015-16 season when he was in Pittsburgh. His overall points totals indicate he doesn’t give much offensively, but when you look past basic numbers, the story is a little different.
He’s landed a career 50.8 Corsi For Percentage at even strength and has more often than not been on the ice for far more goals for than allowed regardless of where he’s played - a career on-ice goals for to on-ice goals against ratio of 599 to 468. It gets even more interesting when you factor in Cole’s career offensive zone starting percentage, which sits at just 46.4.
All of that said, he may give off the facade of a player whose game is purely defense, but it goes beyond that, and that, too, would benefit the Canadiens.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)