Habs Daily: Most Underrated Canadiens, Restricted Free Agents

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories from Thursday.

Montreal Canadiens News

• Montreal Canadiens fans have cast their votes. Centre Jake Evans is the team’s most underrated player, with Arber Xhekaj and a slew of defencemen making the top 10 list. [Habs Fans Vote: Results – Most Underrated Canadiens Players]
• The Montreal Canadiens already have 39 of 50 contracts accounted for the 2024-2025 season, which means they’ll have some big decisions to make on some RFAs. The start of a rebuild is always fun. You draft and acquire a large number of prospects and young players to build up your bank of future assets with the hope that some pop off and become impact players. However, as the rebuild goes along and these youngsters progress, the business side of the NHL gets in the way and tough decisions need to be taken. [Decisions Looming On Six Canadiens Restricted Free Agents]
• Speaking of contracts, the Habs are on the verge of losing the rights to Petteri Nurmi, Jared Davidson, Cedrick Guindon, and Miguel Tourigny. The deadline to sign the quarter is June 1. [Five Canadiens Prospects Could Have Rights Expire This Summer]
• The unofficial start to the off-season calendar has always been the June 1, Must Sign By date.

Below is this years list of players that must be signed to an ELC by 5pm ET on Saturday, June 1, otherwise the team will lose their exclusive signing rights.https://t.co/nXfmDT1fO4 pic.twitter.com/VwClxOUHXC

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) May 30, 2024

• Owen Beck and the Saginaw Spirit have one last chance to qualify for the Memorial Cup final. The Spirit will face Moose Jaw to see which team will attempt to take down the powerhouse London Knights in the final. [CHL Schedule]
• Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki continues to use his time wisely during the offseason. The 24-year-old is once again working with the Asista Foundation, which trains service dogs to help veterans, first responders, and people with autism.

That’s our captain Nick Suzuki🫡

An ambassador for a service dog charity, the Asista Foundation ♥️ pic.twitter.com/falDJMb7ON

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 30, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• The Pittsburgh Penguins are running out of time. Assuming that hasn’t already happened, of course. While the wisdom of trying to transform an aging group that has sat out the Stanley Cup playoffs for two years in a row into a championship contender can — and has been — debated vigorously, ownership has made it clear that Kyle Dubas, the team’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has that mandate. [Pittsburgh Penguins]
• The NHL announced the full schedule for the 2024 Stanley Cup Final on Thursday, with the series starting on June 8 and potentially ending on June 24. [Florida Panthers]
• Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot has been floated as a potential trade chip for some time now, and most recently so by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman on their “32 Thoughts” podcast. [Philadelphia Flyers]