Key Mistake Made By Canadiens’ Rivals That Must Be Avoided

The Montreal Canadiens are at a crucial point in their rebuild, and they could learn from the mistakes of their rivals on what to avoid over the next year.

Between the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators and, up until recently, the Florida Panthers, the Atlantic Division has been the most imbalanced division in all of hockey; holding substantially long playoff droughts during the last 15 years.

Be it from catastrophic trades, poor drafting or a lack of asset management, their rebuilds were plagued by rushing the process too quickly. These moves left general managers, fans and even sports bookies confused, despite NHL betting odds having these teams at the top of their NHL standings predictions.

As the Montreal Canadiens gear up for an important transition year, they’ve done a good job of not rushing their rebuild through trade or making rash signings in the first 30 months of their rebuild.

But, there is one major error that their rivals have made that should be avoided if they wish to hit another level in the coming years.

Holding Onto Underperforming Prospects Too Long

This is perhaps the hardest issue to overcome for a rebuilding team, as NHL prospects are necessary for a successful rebuild; up until their runway begins to shorten.

The Montreal Canadiens have been guilty of this in the past, ultimately trading former 1st-round picks like Louis LeBlanc, Michael McCarron and more for pennies on the dollar. Then there were the Nikita Scherbaks, Noah Juulsens and Victor Metes who were also lost to waivers. Some can be viewed as circumstantial, but it’s imperative to extract value with your top picks and prospects for a rebuild to be successful.

The Ottawa Senators are kind of in the same bind, as they spent good assets in the form of 1st-round picks to try and fill their big need on the right side of their defence. Drafting Lassi Thomson (2019) and Jacob Bernard-Docker (2018) and trading for Erik Brannstrom (a leftie who can play on the right side). All three have failed to establish themselves as the bona fide top-4 defencemen that they were pegged to be in their draft years, with Bernard-Docker just starting to crack the NHL full-time at 23 years old.

The case of Brannstrom was well-known, as he was unhappy in Ottawa based on his usage, after being the key piece acquired in the Mark Stone trade of 2019. Now, with his trade value all but depleted, the Senators let him go fore free, having virtually nothing to show from trading one of the best players to put on the Senators jersey.

In Thomson’s case, he was not only lost to waivers once (before being reacquired by waivers), but has now signed to play in Europe next season. It is a shame, as he did put up good numbers in the AHL as a 20-year-old, but, unfortunately, the Senators waited too long to pull the trigger on trading him for a bona fide solution on defence.

Prospects On The Clock

This scrutiny will soon apply to the Montreal Canadiens real soon, as they begin funnelling the 30+ prospects they’ve drafted or acquired by trade into their professional ranks in the coming months.

Highly drafted prospects will be looked to improve, and reach new levels. But, with the wealth of depth in their prospect pool, the hope would be that general manager Kent Hughes would pull the trigger on a deal if he feels a prospect won’t live up to the hype; sooner, rather than later. With 20 U-23 players already in the organization, and a reserve list that includes another 25 prospects, the Canadiens won’t be able to keep them all. Being proactive in leveraging all this capital before they’ve reached the end of their developmental curve is paramount for them in these next few months.

For example, the Montreal Canadiens were able to leverage sophomore Johnathan Kovacevic into a 2026 4th-round pick at the peak of his value, as he would soon have gotten lost in the shuffle of the club’s deep defensive hierarchy.

But, on the flip side, they also cut a 38th overall pick in Jesse Ylönen loose for free, despite giving him very few opportunities to establish himself as an NHL player or improve his trade stock; getting nothing out of a valuable selection range in the early second-round. Players like Emil Heineman, Sean Farrell, Riley Kidney, William Trudeau and, to an extent, Jordan Harris or Justin Barron are some of those younger players that the Habs will need to evaluate in a very direct way this coming season.

It’s clear that not all these youngsters, who are either already in the NHL or have legitimate NHL potential, will have the opportunity to be full-time NHLers for the Canadiens. Be it due to the organizational depth at the NHL level and the wave up younger prospects joining the ranks, the key will be to monetize those players before their value drops too low.

The Montreal Canadiens may be banking on bing able to develop at an optimal rate, and they have reason to be optimistic, but, especially in a Canadian market, every asset counts.