When Kent Hughes sent Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders in return for the first-round pick he was about to use to fetch Kirby Dach, the Montreal Canadiens fans filling the Bell Centre to the rafters for the 2022 draft looked at one another in disbelief.
A year later, on the eve of the 2023 draft, when he flipped picks 31 and 37 overall and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother, to the Colorado Avalanche for Alex Newhook, nobody saw it coming.
What About this Year?
Still the Montreal market being what it is, everyone is trying to guess what the GM’s next move is going to be, especially since he struck-out trying to make a trade at the draft and to land top-six talent on the free agency market.
The fact of the matter is however that Hughes will not make a move just to make a move. In an article yesterday, TVA Sports’ Étienne Bouchard suggest two UFA veterans could potentially interest the Canadiens GM. The pair of forwards formed for years, alongside Casey Cizikas, the New York Islanders “Identity Line.”
Matt Martin (who’s 35 years old) and Cal Clutterbuck (who’s 36) have not been signed to new contracts by the Islanders. At the end of last season, newly appointed head coach Patrick Roy moved Cizikas to his top-six and in the end of season post-mortem, GM Lou Lamoriello said there would be changes. Presumably, not bringing back the pair was part of the changes he was referring too.
The Identity Line has been an important part of the Long Island outfit’s recent history, but time waits for no man especially in professional sport. For years, that punishing line made games a lot harder on the Isles’ opponents, but those years have now gone.
A Lack of Toughness?
Of course, over the years, there have been numerous incidents in which it was apparent that the Canadiens lacked toughness. Jake Evans being obliterated by Mark Scheifele and Zack Kassian checking Samuel Montembeault in a manner strong enough to make his mask come off come to mind, but that was then.
Related: Canadiens: About the Xhekaj Signing…
Now, the Canadiens have Arber Xhekaj, “The Sheriff” who recently said he was thinking about that hit on Montembeault when he destroyed Kassian early in the 2022-2023 season.
Now, the Canadiens have gotten bigger. Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach are harder to take liberties with than say Brian Gionta and Cole Caufield for instance. If the Canadiens want to have muscle on their fourth line, they do not need to sign the Islanders’ castaways, they’ve got Michael Pezzetta who could answer the call for now.
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Going forward though, the Canadiens might just have their own kind of identity line. Florian Xhekaj plays a really solid game and he’s not afraid to get his nose dirty. There’s only so much muscle a team needs. The way things are shaping up in Montreal, there could be a lot of quality centers in that line-up sooner rather than later. If Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach and Michael Hage get the first three center spots, how good of a fourth line do you have if Owen Beck centers it?
Where’s the Rush?
Hughes has said it often enough, he doesn’t want to make signings which will hinder the development of his young forwards. Why not give a shot to someone like Tyler Thorpe instead? He had a very interesting development camp and could make for a great fourth-line guy, he is six-foot-five and 210 pounds.
With all due respect to Martin and Clutterbuck, right now, the Canadiens need reinforcements to their top-six, not their bottom-six. Even if they do not get any however, it won’t be the end of the world, not for the players and certainly not for Hughes. Kirby Dach will be back (hopefully for good) and the Habs’ young players will all be one year older. As the GM said himself, the team will have improved organically.
So far, the Canadiens’ rebuild is going very well and signing two guys who are pretty much at the end of their career would do them no good. How much of a positive impact has Ryan Reaves had in Toronto? The NHL is increasingly a young man’s game and that includes the rough stuff.
Related
Canadiens: Xhekaj A Second Pairing Defenseman in the Making?
Canadiens’ Hughes Needs to Build a Salary Structure on His Blue Line
Canadiens: Hughes Is Having a Quietly Good Offseason
Canadiens’ Kent Hughes Has Winning Contract Strategy…So Far
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