Habs Daily: Grading Canadiens Management, Slafkovsky, Tatar

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Wednesday.

Montreal Canadiens News

• Our Montreal Canadiens ‘State Of The Rebuild’ series continues with an evaluation of the work done by Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes in the last two seasons. They’re far from perfect. No one is. But they’ve managed to gain the confidence of the majority of Habs fans while working toward a brighter future, a difficult proposal for any market, let alone Montreal. [Montreal Canadiens State Of The Rebuild – Management]

• Don’t look now, but prospect Oliver Kapanen leads the 2024 World Championship in goal scoring, with five goals in three games. Kaiden Guhle has also enjoyed a solid stretch from an offensive standpoint, as evidenced by his four points in three games, one of the best production rates from any defenceman participating in the tournament.  [Canadiens World Championship Update: Kapanen, Guhle, Slafkovsky]

• Juraj Slafkovsky has maintained a point-per-game pace at the World Championship, earning four assists in four games. Team Slovkia emerged with an easy 4-0 win against Poland on Wednesday, their third win of the tournament.

Juraj Slafkovský with some strong work on the boards, led to Slovakia's third goal of the game. His fourth point in as many games.

Cehlárik put it home. 3-0 Slovakia over Poland. #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/A0BbCv3hYe

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) May 15, 2024

• Speaking of Team Slovakia, former Hab Tomas Tatar is enjoying a fantastic as captain of his national side. We’re not here to suggest he should still be a crucial part of the Canadiens lineup, but it is fair to say his short but productive time in Montreal was truly underrated.

Former Hab and current Team Slovakia captain Tomáš Tatar is the player of the game (1G, 2A). #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/4BGUGqtTS1

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) May 15, 2024

• Speaking of former Habs, Artturi Lehkonen continues to be a dominant force in the playoffs. The 28-year-old scored his 23rd playoff goal on Wednesday against the Dallas Stars.

L'ancien du CH marque dans la dernière seconde de la première période ! pic.twitter.com/EtU21PXeHb

— TVA Sports (@TVASports) May 16, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• There exist some talented players who have not yet flourished in their current situations. Penguins fans are quick to point to players such as Daniel Sprong or Alex Nylander, who popped with a 23-game NHL run after the Penguins trade essentially dumped him on Columbus for Emil Bemstrom, but other teams suffer the same problems, too. [Pittsburgh Penguins]
• Last week, it was reported that the New Jersey Devils would have liked to decide on their head coach within seven to 10 days. That report was eight days ago. As of Wednesday morning, Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has not named a new head coach. The only thing that has happened is Travis Green was hired in Ottawa as the next bench boss of the Senators. [New Jersey Devils]
• If there’s one position the Philadelphia Flyers have fortified, at least for now, it’s the right defence position. The Flyers drafted Oliver Bonk in the 2023 NHL Draft and acquired Jamie Drysdale from the Anaheim Ducks in January in the Cutter Gauthier trade, and Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen have multiple years left on their contracts. Still, draftniks have the Flyers selecting defenseman Carter Yakemchuk in the 2024 NHL Draft. [Philadelphia Flyers]