It’s time for an updated look at the Montreal Canadiens’ four-point offseason plan. With the summer coming to a close, it is worth reviewing general manager (GM) Kent Hughes’ offseason plan. Here’s a look at the four main points he absolutely needed to achieve before training camp begins in September 2023.
1. Canadiens Need to Manage Expectations
Hughes continues to emphasize this point, even as expectations grow as the rebuild progresses. He ensures that the expectations placed in front of the team remain realistic, especially when it comes to younger players like Arber Xhekaj.
“We got a lot of young hockey players; we want them to start to take ownership not only for their own but for the collective here – but it is a balance. If we push too far in one direction, we run the risk of compromising development,” explained Hughes. “I don’t know if we’re going to make the playoffs but we’re not coming into the season saying it’s a foregone conclusion. We want to push to try to make the playoffs & if we don’t make the playoffs, that’s fine, it is what it is just as long as along the way we’ve seen a great effort, we’ve seen individuals progress & we see our team moving in that direction – we’re not going into the season saying we’re out of the playoffs.”
Heading into training camp, even with an improved and healthy roster, no reasonable fan is expecting the team to be in the hunt for the division title. However, his emphasis on a team that will be competitive but isn’t likely a playoff team is the correct one. By keeping fans informed and engaged, it ensures there is no need to rush the rebuild along to placate fans that demand more than the team can give.
2. Canadiens Needed to Improve Off-Ice Departments
For the second straight season, the Canadiens led the NHL with 751 man-games lost to injury. Only captain Nick Suzuki has played all 82 games in either of the last two years. Meanwhile, the Habs finished the season with 14 regular players on the injured list. Every other player on an NHL contract had to deal with an injury of some sort during the past season.
Hughes indicated that without improving their medical approach, they wouldn’t be able to build a contending team. With that in mind, the Canadiens relieved Graham Rynbend, the head athletic therapist, and Donald Balmforth, the head physiotherapist, of their duties. These two have been with the organization for many years. At this point, it seems they are the only casualties of the medical staff review that Hughes and executive vice president (EVP) Jeff Gorton vowed to complete this summer.
For now, Blamforth and Rynbend are paying the price. These personnel moves are likely to be the first changes to that department as the Habs look to avoid breaking their man-games lost record for the third season in a row. It will be interesting to see if any other changes will follow as Hughes and Gorton modernize the medical staff, which until now has been an overlooked department that makes a massive impact on the team’s effectiveness.
3. Entry Draft Was the Main Priority
The Canadiens have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL. Their system is filled with A- and B+ prospects who should become complementary or depth players on an NHL roster. The 2023 Draft was expected to provide a highly skilled player, and they may have found a number-one defenseman. Hughes decided to go against the consensus draft choice of the fanbase, who wanted Matvei Michkov, and instead chose David Reinbacher at fifth overall. And there is a very vocal anger radiating from fans on social media.
Related: Canadiens Prospect Pyramid – Summer of 2023
Montreal is not an easy market to navigate for young players, especially those selected high in the draft or with high expectations; fans only need to look at the Jonathan Drouin situation. It is important to find players who can not only handle that level of scrutiny but also thrive.
The Canadiens’ approach to the draft these last two years has been built like a pyramid. The base is intangibles, such as character, competitiveness, and work ethic. While everyone wants to see the offensively skilled players added to their team’s draft picks, no player, even the skilled ones, can hope for their game to evolve and translate to the NHL without those intangibles mentioned above, and that is especially true under the intense spotlight placed on players in Montreal. While for some, the immediate reaction to the 2023 Draft was that of disappointment, the emotions have subsided, and now the majority are looking on with curiosity to see if the Canadiens’ approach to their draft and development plans provides the contender they want to deliver to Montreal.
4. Canadiens Now Need to Improve On-Ice
Canadiens management team doesn’t want to rush the process by cutting any corners, only to gain some short-term success. If they had a motto for their plan, “sustainability” is it.
“We’re trying to build this thing the right way. If we just take shortcuts, just to be a little better, I don’t think that’s going about it the right way. Building, developing and letting it happen organically is the way to go. We’re going to look into signing a player or making a trade to improve this team, without sacrificing the long-term success of this team, if it’s just a move for this season, it’s not in the cards.”
– Kent Hughes
Improving on ice can be done by subtraction, and that is exactly what Hughes did. He traded out Joel Edmundson, Rem Pitlick, and Mike Hoffman. By doing so, he opens roster spots and specific roles that the younger players can step into. Now Kaiden Guhle, Jesse Ylonen, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard have a better opportunity to not only be added to the roster but receive the ice time they will need to develop further.
The hope is that by improving the medical department, there will be fewer injuries to contend with. If this was the only improvement, seeing the overall man-games lost drop by half, the roster, as it was, would have been capable of taking a significant step forward. This has the trickle-down effect of keeping the young prospects that aren’t NHL-ready down in the American Hockey League (AHL) and not forced into an NHL role prematurely.
With a healthy roster, head coach Martin St. Louis’ focus for improvement, special teams, will be easier. He will have a full roster filled with NHL-caliber players to build his units from, and Hughes has handed St. Louis many young puck movers who can play either on the power play or the penalty kill. The recent addition of Gustav Lindstrom adds a highly mobile shutdown defender who can help at five-on-five. He isn’t someone that will wow you with a flashy play, but what he will do is provide steady, reliable defensive play along with an ability to make accurate, safe passes out of his zone quickly.
During the 2023 off-season, Montreal’s front office was quiet. Hughes and his staff had their set plans, which he methodically acted upon. They refrained from being active in the unrestricted free agent market (UFA), keeping their spending to a minimum. His trade activity was in the service of making room for the youth. Now he will need to start his next.