Three offseason trade targets for the Habs

The Montreal Canadiens made significant offseason acquisitions during the last two summers. With draft picks and prospect ammunition, they’re expected to do the same this offseason to accelerate the rebuild.

During the 2022 NHL Entry draft, General Manager Kent Hughes shocked many when he traded Alex Romanov to the New York Islanders for a first round pick, which was 13th overall. He then flipped that pick to acquire Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks. Dach was a former third overall pick but was deemed expandable by Chicago who wanted to overhaul their top six and set up a tank that would lead to the drafting of Connor Bedard. It’s been mixed results for Dach in Montreal mostly due to injury but it did seem like he was on the verge of a breakout season and there’s still plenty of hope he’ll be able to blossom with the Habs.

Prior to the 2023 NHL draft, the Canadiens once again flipped one their extra first round picks (the one acquired in the Ben Chiarot trade to Florida which was 31st overall) and their second round pick which was 37th to pick up Alex Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche. Funny enough, Newhook was part of the same draft class Dach (and Cole Caufield). Newhook has had an up and down season, playing different positions and missed more than six weeks with a high ankle sprain. His ability to fit in the top-6 is debatable but Newhook still provides a ton of speed which is something the Canadiens don’t have an abundance of at the forward position.

So… Who’s going to be the player the target this summer?

Martin Necas, Carolina Hurricanes

Martin Necas is a heck of a player and would check off all the boxes for what the Canadiens are looking for. Larry Brooks of the New York Post has reported that the Carolina Hurricanes are listening to offers. Necas is arbitration eligible and is a free agent this summer.

He’s only 25-years-old and just entering his prime. Last season was a breakout year for Necas who scored 28-goals and 70-points. He should finish this year with comparable numbers. Necas plays with great energy, poise and offensive instincts. He’s an okay defender and he makes up for his shortcomings with his high compete and second efforts. It would be a great fit next to Dach, giving the Canadiens offensive punch on the second line.

Alex Holtz, New Jersey Devils

Alex Holtz isn’t as much of a guarantee as Necas is. There’s still question marks about his defensive game and overall commitment. It appears that he’s on the outs with head coach Lindy Ruff and plays under 12-minutes a game despite being in his third year pro. Even with the limited ice time, Holtz has been able to score 12-goals and 24-points this season. It must be hard to produce much playing with Chris Tierny and Colin Miller on New Jersey’s fourth line. He was a top-10 pick in the 2020 draft and he could be a buy low candidate for Montreal. His shot is by far his best attribute and the Canadiens are starved for goals.

Kent Johnson, Columbus Blue Jackets

Kent Johnson is another player who hasn’t yet lived up to his draft day hype but his skills are undeniable and there’s a reason the Blue Jackets used a top-5 pick to select the Michigan Wolverines standout. Johnson is the biggest project player of the three listed here. He still needs time to round out his defensive game and often tries to do too much rather than make a simple play. It was a bit of shock when the Blues Jackets decided to start Johnson in the American Hockey League to start the season but he was quickly called up after picking 15-points in only 10 games. New management will be coming into Columbus and they will want to bring in their own players. It’s also possible that the team becomes impatient with his development curve…

Just a couple names to add to the list of potential pickups and hopefully we can stop talking the possibility of Trevor Zegras in Montreal.

Mitch Gallo’s Draft Rankings 2024

Here’s my draft rankings for this year! Let me note, I’ve watched every player for at least 10-games each at different points of the season. This is from full viewings and not from watching highlights packages. I haven’t had the luxury of watching these player live or interviewing them. This is not a mock draft, it’s my rankings.

1- Macklin Celebrini – Boston University

2- Ivan Demidov – SKA (MHL)

3- Artyom Levshunov – Michigan State

4- Zeev Buium – Denver (NCAA)

5- Berkly Catton – Spokane (WHL)

6- Tij Iginla, Kelowna (WHL)

7- Cayden Lindstrom- Medicine Hat (WHL)

8- Cole Eiserman- USNTDP

9- Sam Dickinson – London (OHL)

10- Liam Greentree – Windsor (OHL)

11- Anton Silayev, Torpedo (KHL)

12- Beckett Sennecke, Oshawa (OHL)

13- Zayne Parehk, Saginaw (OHL)

14- Konsta Helenius, Jukurit (Liiga)

15- Carter Yamemchuk – Calgary (WHL)

16- Trevor Connelly- Tri City (USHL)

17- Igor Chernyshov, Dynamo Mkskva (MHL)

18- Michael Hage- Chicago (USHL)

19- Jeff Luchanko- Guelph (OHL)

20- Adam Jiricek- HC Plzen (Czech)

21- Michael Brandsegg-Nygard- Mora (Hockey AllSvenskan)

22- Ryder Ritchie- Prince Albert (WHL)

23- Cole Beaudin- Barrie (OHL)

24- Terik Parascak- Prince George (WHL)

25- Stian Solberg- Valerenga (Norway)

26- Sasha Boisvert- Muskegon (USHL)

27- Nikita Artamonov- Novgorod (KHL)

28- Charlie Elick, Brandon (WHL)

29- Dean Letourneau- Saint Andrew’s College (High-On)

30- Andrew Basha- Medicine Hat (WHL)

31- Emil Hemming- TPS (Liiga)

32- EJ Emery- USNTDP

28th Jun 2024 0

Post Game 50: One line team

It’s official.

The Montreal Canadiens are a one line team.

But that line exceled Tuesday night in Washington, beating the Capitals by a score of 5-2.

The team seemed to come together in the first game without Sean Monahan who was traded to the Winnipeg Jets during the bye week. They took advantage of a disheveled looking Capitals team in the first period, jumping out to a 3-0 lead.

Although Washing pushed back in the second and third periods, the deficit was too great to overcome especially with Sam Montembeault once again showing flashes of a potential star goaltender of the future.

Pluses:

Cole Caufield continues getting points. Everyone thinks of the goal scoring prowess when it comes to Caufield, but his passing continues to be underrated. The pass to Nick Suzuki on the opening goal of the game was pure filth.
Nick Suzuki didn’t looked burnt out from having to attend the all-star game. Two goals for Montreal’s captain who will be leaned on even more heavily (if possible) with the subtraction of Monahan.
Juraj Slafkovsky… Nicest two goals of his career. Also, first two goal game for the number one pick of the 2022 NHL entry draft. Games like this will influence people to believe Montreal made the right pick.
Michael Pezzetta goes post and in leading to Charlie Lindgren getting the hook. This game was not on Lindgren, the Capitals were a disaster in front of him.
Sam Montembeautl… Feels like we can just copy and paste his name in the plus category after a win. His back-to-back saves on Dylan Strome and Rasmus Sandin… Pure larceny
Brandon Gignac… Welcome to the NHL, here’s 15-minutes of ice time on the second line. Didn’t look out of place, but many areas to clean up.
David Savard …. BOOM! Most blocked shots again with four, and one of the blocks took a sure goal away from Max Pacioretty.

Minuses:

An absolute fire drill in their own zone at times, especially in the second period.
Tough game for Tanner Pearson who took two penalties and looked sluggish.
On paper, this team is thin. Alex Newhook’s return and Brendan Gallagher’s suspension coming to an end in three games will help, but the Canadiens will go as far as the top line will take them. At some point, it’s going to be too much for them to handle and the losses will pile up. But at least for one night, they took advantage of a team that looks like they are in complete disarray.

Next up for the Canadiens is a home date at the Bell Centre against the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.

7th Feb 2024 0

Post Game 47: Embarrassed again

A week off for the Montreal Canadiens can’t seem to come soon enough.

Montreal lost their third straight game by a score of 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

The team looks like they have nothing left in the tank and are getting to their bye week on fumes.

“We just lost our confidence a little bit, I would say a little fragile giving up that first goal like that, I think it hurt us,” said head coach Martin St Louis about the shorthanded goal allowed to start the game.

It was a carbon copy of the previous couple games, let’s get to what stood out from the NHL most Dr Jekyll and Mr hyde type team.

Pluses:

It was nice to see Arber Xhekaj back in the lineup, although he looks rusty and tentative.
Cole Caufield picked up another point and the offensive numbers have been impressive since the turn of the calendar year.
Johnathan Kovacevic gets back into the lineup and scores a goal from the point. Hopefully scouts were watching, and there were a lot of scouts in the building on Tuesday.

Minuses:

The team is dead tired. Many will think they look they aren’t trying and have no heart or passion… That’s not it, they use their top players too much and have to grind out games to have any chance at winning. The miles are catching up.
Why would you further complicate your life and play with only three centers?
Defensive structure out the window.
To get a spark in the third period, St Louis took Juraj Slafkovsky off the top line… Why does this have to be the default solution?
Beaten by Ottawa twice in three games by a score of 10-3. To makes things worse, the Sens players saluted their mothers in the seats after the game.

Things only get crazier for the Montreal Canadiens when they host Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

24th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 44: They did it again

The Montreal Canadiens got it done again in crunch time with a late goal from Cole Caufield beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Devils have been one of the more disappointing teams in the league and have been ravished by injuries but looked prime to complete a comeback from down 2-0 after a pair of powerplay goals early in the third period.

Montreal got great goaltending from Sam Montembeault (surprise, surprise) and Caufield scored the game winner late, from the edge of the crease.

This had all the makings of a let down game after a huge win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. But once again, they found away to surprise everyone.

Pluses:

Juraj Slafkovksy continues to come out of his shell scoring his sixth goal of the season. And it’s goals in back-to-back games. If you haven’t seen this one yet, go check out the highlight… Caufield’s pass to Slafkovsky was a thing of beauty.
Joshua Roy was able to just kind of blend in during his first couple games in the NHL. In game number three, the puck was following him around and he was much more noticeable. And Roy was rewarded with his first NHL goal.
Sam Montembeault played one of his best games of the season and that’s saying something. He had no chance on either of the goals the Devils scored and stood on his head at times.
Clutch Caufield now has six game winning goals on the season and is tied for third in the league behind only Sam Reinhart and Elias Pettersson. Head coach Martin St Louis was full of a praise for his young sniper. “He’s not just waiting for the puck to come to him, he’s going to the game. He’s not just on the perimeter and tonight was a great example of that.”

Minuses:

Canadiens got a little careless with their sticks at times. And it eventually led to Nick Suzuki’s double minor for high sticking. New Jersey scored twice on that powerplay.
Montreal was outshot and heavily out chanced and once again relied too much on their strong goaltending.

Montreal next game will be on Thursday night in Ottawa taking on a Senators team that has struggled this season.

18th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 43: Canadiens spoil Drouin’s return

The Montreal Canadiens are the most unpredictable team in the NHL.

Or maybe they aren’t…

They always seem to save their best performances for the best teams. And with the Colorado Avalanche in town (second in goals per game), this game was no exception.

Montreal was impressive and went toe-to-toe with the Avalanche winning by a score of 4-3 Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

The recipe for the Habs isn’t complicated… Get good goaltending, get contributions on special teams and have the first line involved. They checked all three boxes and were rewarded.

“All those guys, I feel are going through a process to becoming elite and they’re doing it the right way with a team-first approach,” said head coach Martin St Louis about his top line.

Pluses:

The top line had a great game. Both Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky scored powerplay goals while Nick Suzuki had a pair of assists. The Canadiens aren’t a deep team and need their top players going if they want any chance to win.
Jake Allen held the fort. Sometimes it isn’t about how many saves you make but when you make them. Montreal’s goaltender of the night came up with a pair of huge stops on Nathan Mackinnon with just four minutes remaining. Game changing.
Joel Armia with another goal putting him at seven on the season. He’s having a solid year and although the consistency of his effort level is questionable at best, he battle hard for a loose puck in traffic to score the winning goal. “What we want from Army is just that consistency and we’re getting that right now and I hope he keeps going,” said Martin St Louis.
Pairing Kaiden Guhle with Mike Matheson for the last two games was a great adjustment. David Savard appears to be lumbering right now and with two great skating teams in town, it was smart to have Guhle log big minutes. And he didn’t disappoint keeping Colorado’s top line in check at 5-on-5.
The powerplay has looked good with goals in back-to-back games. Caufield is starting to heat up and find his touch and the movement has been fluid once they settle down and set up.
It took 16-games but Rafael Harvey-Pinard finally scored his first goal of the season.
Montreal fans showed their great class. When Jonathan Drouin was put on the big screen with the welcome back message, the fans stood up and applauded him. Drouin spent six seasons with the Canadiens and it was a roller coaster ride, he was never ever to live up to the big expectations management placed on his shoulders when they traded a blue chip prospect to bolster their offense. But even after the hard times, the fans showed their appreciation for his time with the team. Of course, when the game got back underway, they booed him every time he touched the puck. Perfect.

Minuses:

The Canadiens allowed the first goal of the game… To add salt to the wound, Drouin picked up an assist on the Ross Colton goal.
Jake Evans took an embellishment penalty that led to 4-on-4 hockey. Colorado is a dangerous team with extra space and this led to the game tying goal by Devon Toews. It is Emmy season after all.
Jesse Ylonen left to concussion protocol, hopefully nothing serious.
The bench was cut down in the third period and Joshua Roy played under 10-minutes in his second NHL game. It was an understandable decision based on where the game was at, but disappointing nonetheless.

The Montreal Canadiens will play their next three games on the road starting with a clash against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

16th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 41: ZZZ (Take Two)

The Montreal Canadiens followed up their sleepy performance against the Philadelphia Flyers by looking just as somnolent the next night against the league’s worst team, the San Jose Sharks.

Although Montreal pushed in the final five minutes of the game, San Jose outplayed Montreal for the vast majority of the first 55-minutes and held on for a 3-2 win.

The Sharks aren’t just bad, they have a great chance of going down as one of the worst teams in NHL history. This win marked just the fourth time they’ve won on the road this season and they rank last in just about every statistical category.

Sorry if you spent another two hours watching this game.

Pluses:

Brendan Gallagher scores for the second time in the last three games. It’s tiering hearing fans complain about his play, when generally the lines he’s on drive play in the offensive zone. But it’s just a coincidence, it’s certainly not because of him… Right?!
Despite the fact that the Canadiens didn’t play well, they still only lost by one and came close to equalizing the game in the third period.

Minuses:

Jayden Struble made as egregious an error you’ll ever see on the first goal against. For a young player he’s been as steady as one could have hoped, but this one was bad.
The offense was non-existent…
Cole Caufield is going through one of the most difficult stretches of his time in the NHL. He can’t beat goalies clean on his shot, they are reading him with ease and he’s become predictable.
Defensive zone coverage was questionable at best for every Sharks’ goal. Mike Matheson and Jake Evans exposed on multiple occasions.
Martin St Louis has to wear some of this loss, he didn’t have his team prepared to play. He let them off the hook after Wednesday’s loss to Philadelphia and they followed it up by playing even worse at home against the NHL’s worst team. Brutal.

Montreal’s next opponent will be the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre at 7pm.

12th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 40: ZZZ

Over the course of an 82-game season, there’s going to be a game or two that you want to completely forget about. Wednesday night was one of those games… An absolute stinker.

But the Habs managed to pick up a precious point in the standings losing the the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout.

Montreal benefitted by scoring on their first two shots of the game and that was all they could muster of offensively. Both goals were the result of fluke bounces that went Montreal’s way.

Flyers’ goaltender Samuel Ersson made his first stop of the game over a minute into the second period and only faced 19 Montreal shots in the game.

Head coach Martin St Louis summed things up pretty well after the game… “Tonight we didn’t have our fast ball, we didn’t play a good game.”

Pluses:

After a rocky start, it was a solid night in goal for Cayden Primeau who was Montreal’s best player. His best came in overtime when Montreal was severely outchanced.
Goals for Sean Monahan are good as his stock on the trade market continues to rise. He might be the second best center available to contending teams, after Calgary’s Elias Lindholm.

Minuses:

After a good outing for the New York Rangers on Saturday night, the penalty kill let the Habs down once again.
The first line was invisible and when the first line isn’t involved, Montreal’s lack of depth is on full display.
It might be time to sit down Justin Barron for a game or two in favour of Johnathan Kovacevic. It’s a long season and young players will have fluctuation in their game. Barron has struggled for the last couple weeks.
Although it didn’t FEEL like a two goal lead, the Canadiens blew another two goal lead.
Hard to understand the overtime deployment with Josh Anderson and Jake Evans seeing so much of the time in the extra frame.
We spent two hours of our lives watching.

The Montreal Canadiens next match up with the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

11th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 39: The Montem-show

The Montreal Canadiens prevailed 4-3 in a shootout in a wild and highly entertaining game against the New York Rangers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

And it was a statement game by goaltender Sam Montembeault, who turned aside 45-shots and stopped all three shooters in the shootout.

When asked if Montembeault was the Canadiens’ number one goaltender, head coach Martin St Louis wouldn’t tip his hand.

“He’s playing like a number one.”

Of course, St Louis has to manage his hockey team and this season part of that has entailed juggling three goalies.

But Montembeault has separated himself from Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau. While Montembeault is getting more starts than the other two, the Canandiens need to find out how he can perform with a heavier workload. Allen and Primeau can share the back up starts from now on, if they don’t like it, too bad.

Pluses:

The story was Sam Montembeault. Several highlight reel saves, none better than his stop on Mika Zibanejad’s shootout attempt. Zibanejad tried the deke made famous by Peter Forsberg, deking to his right and trying to tuck the puck in with only his left hand on the stick. Montembeault sniffed out the move and put his paddle down at the last second.
Brendan Gallagher scored for the first time in 25-games and it was an absolute SNIPE. Yes, his contract sucks… But enough with making him the new whipping boy, analytics suggest he’s having a decent season.
Cool to see St Louis elect to put Sean Monahan between two young players in Jesse Ylonen and Emil Heineman. And the move paid off.
Joel Armia scores in back to back games.

Minuses:

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, the Habs got bullied by the New York Rangers in the second half. New York showed why they are the league’s top team.

Montreal’s next game is on Wednesday night in Philadelphia against the Flyers at 7pm.

8th Jan 2024 0

Post Game 38: The dreaded first game back

Things couldn’t have gone much worse in the Montreal Canadiens first game back from their seven game road trip.

They allowed four goals in the third period and lost 6-1 to a Buffalo Sabres team that has been struggling to find consistency in the first half of the season.

Local product Devon Levi played well in goal for Buffalo making 32-saves in the game, including a highlight reel stop in the third period on Cole Caufield.

And of course Jeff Skinner loves playing at the Bell Centre, with his four points Thursday night, he has recorded 14-points in his last four games in Montreal.

Let’s get to the talking points and there wasn’t much on the plus side.

Pluses:

The score didn’t become lopsided until Jack Quinn’s goal in the third period that put Buffalo up 3-2. Going into the final frame, the Canadiens were in a good spot for a tight finish. Montreal was quite good in the first period and out-chanced the Sabres.
Jayden Struble had his first blunder since getting called up to the NHL back on November 22nd and his mistake resulted in Buffalo’s fourth goal of the game. But he was the best of the seven defenseman in Montreal’s line up and delivered monster hits in the first period on both Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson. He was one of the only players with jump.
Joel Armia scored a shorthanded goal, it was his 9th career shorthanded marker and 100th point with the Montreal Canadiens. Armia stripped Rasmus Dahlin of the puck and wired it past Levi for Montreal’s only goal of the game.
Devon Levi was named first star of the game in his first start at the Bell Centre in front of family and friends.

Minuses:

Mike Matheson and David Savard struggled while on the ice together. The defense as a whole wasn’t great but they were the two that stood out the most and it was for all the wrong reasons.
The penalty kill is awful and the two goals it let up on Thursday night displayed just how easy the Canadiens make things on the others team’s powerplay. Identical goals from the opposite side of the ice, passing through the box is as easy as can be and players are unmarked all over the ice. This isn’t a personnel issue…
11 forwards and 7 defenseman is fine if you’re forced into it for a game or two. Three games is enough, the roster has to get sorted.
With the loss the Canadiens cancelled out the strong game against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
Before the game, Montreal announced that Christian Dvorak will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle that requires surgery.

Things don’t get easier for the Canadiens with the Eastern Conference’s second ranked team the New York Rangers visiting the Bell Centre on Saturday at 7pm.

5th Jan 2024 0