It is a fun exercise to look at the roster of the Montreal Canadiens from last season and compare it to the team expected to start the 2023-24 season to determine if they are better or worse after the busy offseason. While free agency wasn’t where the Canadiens made their noise, they might have been the most active team elsewhere, making multiple trades involving a good deal of players.
There were five notable names that were brought in and six that left through four trades and free agency. We are going to take a look at who came and left, the impact each player had or will have, and if the Canadiens are actually a better team this season.
Subtractions by the Canadiens
The six notable players that the Canadiens lost this offseason include Denis Gurianov, Jonathan Drouin, Joel Edmundson, Mike Hoffman, Rem Pitlick, and Corey Schueneman.
Gurianov was a trade deadline acquisition and was the return for Evgenii Dadonov from the Dallas Stars. The Canadiens couldn’t get any draft picks or prospects for Dadonov, so giving Gurianov a late-season shot to also help fill a roster spot on the very banged-up team was worth it. Ultimately the Canadiens decided against re-signing Gurianov, and it was probably the right choice because they have prospects in the system who deserve fair shots. He wouldn’t have been playing the same role, which means he wouldn’t have most likely performed as well.
The Canadiens were happy to finally part ways with Drouin and get that saga over with. It was a failed trade, and his career went downhill once injuries started to come into play. He very much needed a change in scenery, but as the Canadiens were rebuilding, there was no point in dumping him or even buying him out to have the salary stay on the books longer. From the Canadiens’ perspective, he will not be missed, and a roster spot got freed up for better use.
The Canadiens feel similarly about Hoffman, as both he and Drouin were scratched at times and needed a change in scenery. Hoffman was a bit more useful offensively, but the veteran wasn’t put in a position to succeed anymore, and the Canadiens didn’t need to use him like that. While still having a year left on his deal at $4.5 million AAV, Montreal was able to get rid of him without costing them anything. He tied for fourth on the team in goals (14) and fourth in points (34), but that’s not very impressive considering the games played by many of the players on the team.
Pitlick was a decent bottom-six player but nothing special. He played half of the season (46 games) and got a little more ice time because he was healthy at the right time. Again, he’s just another body that needed to get moved out to free up space for the young players the Canadiens think will be the future.
Edmundson was the most useful subtraction. Although he missed 21 games last season and isn’t by any means helpful offensively, he is a strong defender and a solid second or third-pairing defenceman. This move was necessary as the Canadiens have lots of valuable young defencemen ready for more NHL action now and even more coming. As for Schueneman, the 27-year-old played seven games for the Canadiens and logged fewer than 15 minutes per game. The team has enough of these types of players who can fill that role.
Additions by the Canadiens
The additions by the Canadiens weren’t anything special, and overall, they didn’t actually add as many players as it seems due to flipping assets. The players acquired who are in the organization at this time include Alex Newhook, Casey DeSmith, Lias Andersson, Gustav Lindstrom, and Nathan Legare.
Newhook is the prize here. They added the former first-round pick in exchange for a first and second-round pick and signed for four years. He will fit in somewhere in the middle-six and have time to develop on a team where a ton isn’t expected or forced on him. On the Colorado Avalanche, they were and still are a Stanley Cup contender and had an open spot down the middle to fill. Montreal better utilize Newhook on the wing and can see where to go with him from there. After 14 goals and 30 points last season, bigger things are expected, but I also don’t expect it to be a huge improvement yet, either.
DeSmith might not be long for the Canadiens, as there are still rumors swirling that he will get dealt before the season starts. These rumors could definitely come true as the Canadiens would have four goalies competing for two, or very unlikely, three spots on the roster in training camp. If he does stay, DeSmith has had a strong career so far as a backup and put up better numbers than both Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen last season. He would be in line for a fair amount of playing time.
Andersson might not see very many games in the NHL, but he will get a fair shot during training camp and should provide some depth if lots of injuries strike the Canadiens again. He is still relatively young and was drafted high, so there is skill there. He is a bit of a wild card, but it didn’t cost the Canadiens much at all to bring him in.
As the Canadiens lost Edmundson and Schueneman, they opted to bring in Lindstrom, who is younger and will likely serve as the seventh defenceman as he did for the Detroit Red Wings the past two seasons. Like Andersson, he’s just a younger replacement who has a slight chance of surprising and doing more than what we’ve seen in his career so far.
Related: Where Canadiens’ Gustav Lindstrom Fits With the Organization
Legare is an interesting prospect that the Canadiens also took a chance on. He was initially thought highly of by the Pittsburgh Penguins when they drafted him, but he’s struggled mightily since turning pro two seasons ago (from “Penguins A to Z: Time might be running out for Nathan Legare”, Trib Live, May 29, 2023). He could still surprise in training camp again, but the most likely outcome is that he will spend this season in the American Hockey League (AHL) trying to turn his career around.
Are the Canadiens Better This Season?
After breaking down each addition and subtraction, are the Canadiens a better team? Solely through the moves they made, they gave up more talent than they got back, but that doesn’t mean they got worse. General manager Kent Hughes has a strategy, and that is to give many of the team’s younger players more playing time to see them develop and to see what they can offer. Four of the five players brought in are 24 years of age or younger, while there were multiple aging veterans that were moved out.
With players like Edmundson and Schueneman landing in a new home, that frees up space in the NHL and in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the many young defenders all fighting for spots. The Canadiens aren’t competing just yet, so the two draft picks they received for Edmundson help.
As for the forwards, Gurianov was given a shot, and the team didn’t seem to think it was going to work the way they may have envisioned it for the future (from “NHL trade grades: Stars send Denis Gurianov to Canadiens for Evgenii Dadonov”, The Athletic, Feb. 26, 2023). Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman were in dire need of a new home, and by the end of their time with the Canadiens, they were just eating money and taking up a roster spot.
Not only are more young players going to get a better look, but they have more competition at a time when the Canadiens are just about to come out of their rebuild and need players to step up. It can only be seen as a good thing, and even if the Canadiens don’t necessarily get a ton of points this season, that’s not how they should be judged as a failure. It will be a developmental season and a season where players break out of their shells. Who though? That is why we’re going to be paying close attention.