Ever since the Montreal Canadiens spectacularly imploded after the Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup final in 2021, the newly staffed front office has been methodically building a new iteration of the team.
Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton’s version of the storied franchise has nothing to do with Marc Bergevin’s version. The former GM had built his Canadiens from the net out, giving Carey Price a huge contract and investing the lion’s share of his budget on the blueline, stifling his offence in the process.
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Yesterday, The Hockey Writers’ Mike Fink released his rebuild rankings and in his opinion, the Canadiens are ahead of the game. While I agree HuGo is doing great so far, the hardest part is around the corner.
Picking up assets and signing them to entry-level contracts is not rocket science, especially if you get to pick first-overall at the draft. Mind you, it’s still possible to fall at that hurdle…the Canadiens did all the way back in 1980 when they picked Doug Wickenheiser.
So far so good for the Habs’ brass. 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky looked great in his sophomore season and was inked to a long-term extension this Summer. With a prospects cupboard filled to the brim with young defensemen, they’ve now set their sights on the attack and reaped a good crop of forwards at the last draft.
Related: Juraj Slafkovský Talks to Media Following Eight-Year Extension
The Canadiens land first on THW’s rebuild ranking, do you agree with that ranking or is it too soon to give the Canadiens such an endorsement? Montreal is still quite a way away from contending and soon enough, the fans will want to see tangible results in the win column, how do you think they’ll rank then?
Related
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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