It's Time For The Montreal Canadiens to Accelerate Their Rebuild

Jonathan Marchessault skates between Joel Armia and Johnathan Kovacevic Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

By all accounts, the Montreal Canadiens’ rebuild is coming along nicely.

Since President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes started running the show, the Habs have assembled one of the NHL’s best prospect pools, along with a plethora of draft capital, all the while transforming an ‘old-school’ organization into a more progressive and robust operation off the ice. And while they missed the playoffs by a country mile, Montreal’s core talent took huge steps forward this year.

Montreal's young captain Nick Suzuki (24) played at a Selke level and registered 77 points in 82 games. Cole Caufield (23) set career highs in goals with 28 and points with 65. And thanks to an eye-opening second-half surge, 2022 No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky racked up 50 points as a sophomore. And that’s not even accounting for how good David Reinbacher and Lane Hutson — their two best prospects — were in their respective leagues.

It just might be time to speed the rebuild up. At least a little.

One of the overlooked elements of player development is learning how to win, or at the very least, learning how to compete in crunch time. If a team is bottoming out year after year, it’s only natural that a losing culture is going to be created and that’ll derail even the most talented teams on paper. (just ask the Columbus Blue Jackets or Buffalo Sabres).

Armed with $19.9 million in cap space and a boatload of picks, the Habs have the means to significantly upgrade their supporting cast in the short term without mortgaging their long-term salary cap outlook.

Given the depth of their high-end prospect pool, Montreal could parlay some of their draft capital — such as the No. 26 overall selection — for a young NHL player who they think could blossom in a different environment. That’s how Hughes, a former player agent who knows firsthand how a player's fit in an organization can impact their progression, acquired Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook. If he feels like taking a swing, Hughes could go out and acquire Trevor Zegras or Patrik Laine — at a relatively low acquisition cost — and gamble on them being able to realize their superstar potential. Zegras is one of, if not the, craftiest players in the league but his lack of attention to detail in the defensive zone saw him fall out of favour with Anaheim Ducks coach Greg Cronin.

Laine’s warts are similar, though he also has dealt with injuries and missed almost the entirety of the 2023-24 season after entering the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program this past season, his elite trait is his shot and you can count on one hand the number of players that can rip the puck like him.

Resurrecting a player like that, if all goes well, would add a bonafide star to the Habs core.

Say Montreal’s looking for more cost certainty, Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas comes to mind.  After an impressive 71-point 2022-23 season, the 25-year-old Czech forward has never really fit into Rod Brind’Amour’s system but his talent is undeniable. Another option would be someone like Philadelphia Flyers forward Morgan Frost, another 25-year-old forward who has been on the outs with his coach, having been a resident in John Tortorella’s doghouse throughout parts of the year.

Whether Montreal lands another young star or not, they can’t have their roster be made up entirely of young players.

Having veterans to show the young guys the ropes — and create strong internal competition — is invaluable for a team like the Habs. The Canadiens likely won’t hand out long-term deals on July 1 — given that they need to allocate funds for Slafkovsky and Dach’s impending deals — but they have lots of money to play with for the next two years and they should leverage that. Say Jonathan Marchessault is priced out of Vegas, would the Habs offer the 2023 Conn Smythe winner a two, maybe three-year deal with an AAV between $6.5 to $7 million? While that may seem like a pricey deal, the salary cap is rising at a healthy rate and the percentage of the cap will reduce as the deal ages and that’s not even taking into account all the positives that would come from the 33-year-old Quebec native taking on a leadership role with his hometown team.

Accelerating the rebuild isn’t about trying to win a cup next year. It’s about trying to get in the habit of playing more high-stakes games in the spring and less meaningless games post-trade-deadline exodus.