There will be a major paradox with the Canadian this season. The club is still in the process of rebuilding, but may not have any recruits in its formation to start the season.
It will therefore be necessary to take advantage of the rookie camp, then the first preparatory games, to see the best hopes at work, the David Reinbacher, Emil Heineman, Sean Farrell, Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, Logan Mailloux and company, since they will probably be in Montreal in October.
The CH does not give up on youth, however, since almost half of the members of its formation will be aged 24 or less.
Let’s see, position by position, who is knocking on the door and who is congesting the positions for which these young people are auditioning.
Cayden Primeau will not be at the prospect camp even though he is still considered a rookie at 24. We’ve seen him often in the CH environment in recent years, but he has not yet reached the threshold of 25 career games in the National League and has not played six or more games in each of the two seasons previous ones.
The Canadiens’ two regular goalies from last year, Samuel Montembeault and Jake Allen, are back with the team and another veteran, Casey DeSmith, has still not been traded. However, Primeau must now be subject to waivers if he is demoted in the minors and the organization could choose to keep him in Montreal or trade him if there is no place for him.
The arrival of Gustav Lindström in the transaction for Jeff Petry further congests the right flank in defense. There are now David Savard and Johnathan Kovacevic, two regulars last year, not to mention veteran Chris Wideman and young Justin Barron, effective in 39 games in Montreal in the second half of the season.
The first choice of the CH in 2023, fifth overall, David Reinbacher, can have all the talent in the world, he must be ahead of five players, must four under guaranteed NHL contract, not to mention left-handers who could be sent to the right side due to congestion also at this position. The same principle applies for Logan Mailloux.
Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris are expected to be the three regular defensemen on the left, but the colossus Arber Xhekaj could threaten Harris’s position unless one of the three young left-handers is sent on the right since the potential is less noted there.
Barring a slaughter, William Trudeau, the best young left-handed defender in Laval last year, Jayden Struble, Mattias Norlinder and Nicolas Beaudin have no chance of starting the season in Montreal.
There is already an overabundance in the center, despite the absence at the start of the season of Christian Dvorak, who had knee surgery this summer. Nick Suzuki obviously remains the first center and Kirby Dach should find the center of the second line, unless we prefer to send him to the wing with Suzuki and Cole Caufield. In such a scenario, Sean Monahan would take his place in the center.
Acquired against a choice at the end of the first round and at the start of the second round, Alex Newhook is also a center and he could work in this position while waiting for the return of Dvorak. Newhook can also move on the wing if needed. Jake Evans is the other center.
Lias Andersson, 24, seventh overall pick in 2017 but unable to earn a National League spot so far, hopes to stay in Montreal after a promising 59-point season, including 31 goals in 67 games with the club- Los Angeles Kings school last year. Andersson will earn $775,000 if he succeeds, and $375,000 if he plays in the American League in Laval.
Owen Beck, 19, a stunner in training camp last year months after being drafted early in the second round, is destined to play another season in the junior ranks, as is Riley Kidney, 20, 110 points in the junior ranks in Gatineau and Acadie-Bathurst last winter, and Jan Mysak.
Montreal already has eight regular wingers in anticipation of next season, not counting the surplus center that will have to be sent to the wing, unless there are injuries of course.
Among them, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, Juraj Slafkovsky, Joel Armia, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen and Michael Pezzetta. They are all under guaranteed NHL contracts, except for Slafkovsky.
We now understand better why Kent Hughes was so keen to get rid of Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick. Imagine the congestion if they were still there…
We can cherish Sean Farrell, Filip Mesar, Emil Heineman, Joshua Roy, Xavier Simoneau and new Penguins acquisition Nathan Légaré, but only a significant number of injuries will allow them to start the season with the Canadiens.
Tyler Wright hadn’t been in Edmonton that long. The accomplice of Oilers general manager Ken Holland, at the time in Detroit, had the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages to prove himself.
Players generally take at least five plus years to develop, unless they are exceptional. Barely weeks after his arrival, the new president of hockey operations, Jeff Jackson, a player agent for the past few years, nevertheless fired Wright to replace him with former Avalanche scouting director Rick Pracey.
It is unclear whether Wright’s dismissal was taken in perfect harmony with Holland or whether the decision undermines Holland’s power.
In his first draft, in 2020, Wright drafted Dylan Holloway 14th overall. Holloway, Cole Caufield’s teammate at the University of Wisconsin, had 9 points, including 3 goals, in 51 games in his first NHL season last winter.
Wright is criticized for having preferred him to Dawson Mercer, 56 points, including 27 goals, in 2022-2023 in New Jersey. Mercer was drafted 18th overall. Wright’s critics might also have mentioned Kaiden Guhle and Lukas Reichel, but at 21, and battered by a serious injury two years ago, Holloway still has time to develop.
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