The Canadiens have plenty to sort out this season, and the pressure is on Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and Martin St. Louis to handle it without getting ahead of themselves.
Montreal is coming off a year that ended one round shy of the Stanley Cup, but that still wasn’t enough to get them through the Carolina Hurricanes. The message is clear: improve, but don’t force it.
That’s the tightrope here. The Canadiens are still building toward being a true contender, and the wrong quick fix could do more damage than good. There are a few tempting options on the table, but Montreal can’t afford to take the bait if it means sacrificing the long-term plan.
One of the biggest traps would be shifting Ivan Demidov to center. Demidov has already become one of Montreal’s top forwards and looks like he could be one or two seasons away from being viewed as one of the NHL’s best.
He played wing this past season, but his ability to control play has made center seem like a possible fit. Gorton was asked about that before the NHL Draft and said:
"He's fastly becoming an elite winger, so I don't know if we want to mess with that. I do think if you look around the league, he does play like a center, right?
He drives the line, he makes the plays, and we see a lot of elite wingers in the league that do those things. Instead of having an elite center, you may be able to do it through him."
The problem is that Montreal still doesn’t have a second-line center, and a quiet offseason only made that hole stand out more. That could make Demidov the easy answer in the short term, but it would also risk messing with his development. The burden should be on Kent Hughes to find the right player before the Canadiens start experimenting with Demidov down the middle.
Michael Hage presents another possible answer at center, but betting on him to step directly into the 2C job would be risky. He can’t join Montreal until his season at the University of Michigan is finished, and nobody knows when that will be, especially if the Wolverines go deep into the Frozen Four.
Even if Hage arrives in time, asking him to immediately take over that role during a playoff push is a lot. There’s always the chance Alex Newhook takes a step or Oliver Kapanen rebounds after being a healthy scratch for most of the playoffs, but neither path feels ideal.
The best outcome would be a trade early in the season to shore up the position.
Another decision Montreal has to avoid is re-signing Arber Xhekaj only to move him to forward. The Canadiens still have two restricted free agents to deal with, Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc, and while Xhekaj is a player they’d likely like to keep, the blue line is already crowded.
One idea discussed on HabsCast was whether the Canadiens had checked on his willingness to re-sign and then switch positions. Xhekaj even spent one game up front last season, which shows the thought has at least crossed minds before.
Still, it’s a bad solution. Xhekaj is a defenseman, and that’s where he brings the most value.
He needs regular ice time, and he didn’t get enough of it last season, with no guarantee that changes this year whether he’s on defense or forward. Moving him up front might look clever on paper, but it doesn’t really help either side.
It could also drag down his trade value, and it’s hard to picture him suddenly becoming a reliable fourth-line piece. Unless Montreal moves one of its top six defensemen, the cleaner answer is to trade Xhekaj and maximize the return.
Then there’s the goalie situation, where the Canadiens have to be careful not to clutter the roster for the sake of keeping options open. Samuel Montembeault is still in place after not being traded this summer, and with the final year of his contract coming up, Montreal appears ready to see whether he can rebound early enough to boost his value on the market. At the same time, Jacob Fowler looks ready for the NHL.
That creates a problem if Montembeault stays put. The Canadiens could carry three goalies, but that would create a messy rotation and make it hard for anyone to get the starts they need.
Montembeault might not get enough work to improve his trade value, while Fowler wouldn’t get the development he needs. As imperfect as it is, the better move is to keep Fowler in Laval for regular starts until Montreal moves on from Montembeault.
The Canadiens have momentum heading into the season. The challenge is keeping that momentum intact by avoiding the kind of decisions that would set them back in 2026-27.
In Other News...
Canadiens Face A Pricey Adam Fantilli Decision They Can't Ignore
Montreals center picture already looks crowded enough for next season, with Nick Suzuki, Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans and Phillip Danault expected to hold down the middle and Kirby Dach still in the mix as another option. Even so, the Canadiens are keeping an eye on a bigger swing if the opportunity ever opens up, and that means watching the situation in Columbus closely as Adam Fantilli works through his contract talks with the Blue Jackets.
For Montreal, the appeal is obvious: Fantilli is the kind of young center who can change a lineups ceiling. The problem is just as obvious, too. Any serious run at him would come with a steep price, and the kind of move that could pry him loose would not be a simple cap maneuver or a minor trade adjustment. It would be the sort of commitment that forces a team to decide how badly it wants to chase a franchise piece. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have A Bruins Trade Chance Fans Will Debate
Bostons decision to lock up Fraser Minten on a seven-year extension has added a new wrinkle to a situation Montreal will be watching closely. With that piece of business done, the Bruins may be more open to listening on Pavel Zacha, and the Canadiens have reportedly shown interest as they look to address a roster need. Any conversation between division rivals would be unusual enough on its own, but it also comes with the kind of negotiation baggage that tends to make these ideas easier to discuss than to complete.
For Montreal, the appeal is obvious: Zacha would bring a useful middle-six presence and give the club another option in a spot it wants to strengthen. For Boston, moving a veteran forward in the right deal could make sense if the roster reshuffle continues to tilt in Mintens direction. The real question is whether two teams that rarely deal with one another can find a framework that both sides can live with, because the history between them suggests this would take more than a passing phone call. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Hutson Just Added To A Canadiens Debate Fans Love
Corey Pronmans latest 2022 NHL Draft re-ranking gave Canadiens fans plenty to chew on, especially because it centered on the same class that already shapes so much of the teams future conversation. Juraj Slafkovsky stayed at No. 1 in Pronmans view, and the exercise was built around long-term upside rather than a simple do-over of draft night, which is why these lists tend to ignite the kind of debates that linger well beyond the original selection.
The most intriguing part for Montreal is Lane Hutsons rise from a second-round pick to a level usually reserved for the drafts elite, joining Cutter Gauthier in the upper tier of the re-rank. Logan Cooley landed ahead of him, which only adds another layer to the discussion about how teams should value skill, projection and development, and why the Canadiens draft haul remains such a favorite topic whenever these rankings surface. [Read more 🡒]