The Canadiens’ VP of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, repeated the obvious in the behind-the-scenes documentary on the draft, recently broadcast by the CH: we build teams by drafting gifted young people and not by overpaying overage free agents.
Montreal will soon begin the second year of its reconstruction begun by Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes. The majority of players in the roster will be aged 24 or under.
Some were drafted by the old administration, led by Marc Bergevin and his right-hand man Trevor Timmins, others under the era of Gorton, Hughes and Timmins successor Nick Bobrov, and a few were acquired in return for choices and hopes fished out before their arrival.
In this drier time in news, just over a week away from the start of rookie camp, let’s have a little fun for the sake of discussion. If we had to choose one defining vintage for the future of this team, among the ten most recent, what would it be?
Today, the vintages 2014 to 2018, of which there is not much left, Thursday, the years 2019 to 2023.
We will quickly realize that the vintages further back in the last decade have already dried up, either due to lost hopes or even young players unfortunately exchanged…
A late first-round pick, no second-round pick, traded for Thomas Vanek, today all that’s left is the team’s final pick, Jake Evans, a third-line center at best, but now identified as a as the club’s fourth center if there are no injuries. Aside from Evans, none have played 40 games in the NHL.
Like the previous year, CH did not draft before 26th and did not hold a second-round pick, traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Jeff Petry. Noah Juulsen could undoubtedly have remained a top 4 defender if he had not unfortunately been injured in the face by a puck at the start of his career. Lost on waivers in 2019, he played a few games in the NHL with the Canucks last winter. Vejdemo played a few games with the Canadian, but returned to Sweden last year at age 27. There is nothing left of this vintage.
Until recently, the most optimistic, or rather candid, could still tell themselves that Sergachev had not been completely wasted since they still dreamed of seeing Jonathan Drouin meet expectations. At 25, Sergachev is now one of the best defensemen in the National League, 64 points in 79 games last year, the Lightning’s most-used player last year and Jonathan Drouin was released, before signing a modest contract in Colorado. Mete and Bitten are fringe players, but hats off to this one for his first career NHL games last year, at age 25, with the Blues. That leaves Pezzetta, a feisty fourth-line forward, but the type you can get on waivers.
After raising high hopes, Poehling faded, to the point of being traded to the Penguins by Kent Hughes in a trade for Jeff Petry to free up some payroll. He established himself at the center of the fourth line in Pittsburgh and will continue his career in the same role in Philadelphia. Fleury was lost on waivers two years ago. He still played a few games in Seattle last season. Only the keeper Primeau, 24, of this once promising vintage remains. He will have to style Samuel Montembeault and Jake Allen in training camp, otherwise he will be subject to waivers before being demoted to the American League.
The less optimistic will say that the Canadian collected too little from a third overall pick and six picks in the first three rounds. They won’t be wrong. Defenseman Quinn Hughes would undoubtedly have been the ideal choice at third. But without the Carolina Hurricanes’ dirty trick, Kotkaniemi might have become a solid second center behind Nick Suzuki. After all, he filled that role as a 22-year-old with the powerful Carolina Hurricanes last year and saw an offensive progression with 18 goals and 43 points.
Marc Bergevin wanted to plug a hole quickly by giving the Arizona Coyotes the first-round pick in 2022 (27th overall) obtained for the loss of Kotkaniemi. He added a second-round pick to it in 2024. A mess.
What follows is interesting. The surprising choice, and decried at the start, of defender Alexander Romanov, paid off. This was then used as bait to get center Kirby Dach, who, at 22, appears to have taken off at second-line center with 38 points in 58 games, and growing U.S. time in the second half of the season.
Ylönen may not become a great offensive end, but he had 16 points in 37 second-half games in Montreal and should be in the roster this year.
Harris, 23 like Ylönen, established himself as a top-four defensive player last year in his first NHL season. Without being flamboyant, he remains very efficient, intelligent, and could progress even further.
The 2018 vintage will provide the impetus for the following ones. We will then go to the vote tomorrow…
Despite a 48-point season last year at New Jersey, former Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar is still out of contract.
However, Stefen Rosner of the Hockey News wonders if a verbal agreement has not already been reached between Tatar and the New York Islanders. GM Lou Lamoriello is said to be waiting to hear the fate of Zach Parise (retirement) and Cal Clutterbuck (health) before announcing a deal for the 32-year-old Slovak winger.
“It is very interesting to know that Tatar is still available and until we make an official announcement, the Islanders should not be ruled out. »
1-Even if his chances of breaking through the squad remain very slim, Owen Beck, still a junior, hopes to start the season in Montreal. Simon-Olivier Lorange spoke to him on the sidelines of an event featuring NHL rookies in Arlington.
2-Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens are the three players signed by the new general manager of the Montreal team of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. The details of Katherine Harvey-Pinard.
3-Quebec welcomes the tenth rider in the ranking of the most recent Tour de France, Guillaume Martin, for the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montréal and Québec. Simon Drouin tells us.
