Montreal Canadiens Forward Depth Chart – A Trade Would Help

Every training camp leads to a certain level of excitement when it comes to the team’s top prospects, especially since the Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of a rebuild that ensures some turnover among the players. The long term goal is to replace aging veterans with cheaper, younger, and more talented players, a strategy Habs fans have wholeheartedly endorsed.

The Reality Of Constructing A Professional Sports Roster

This time around, there are a few forwards who are knocking on the door leading to an NHL job. Oliver Kapanen put his professional hockey experience to good use since camp opened, and has quickly established himself as one of the top targets to earn a roster spot. Owen Beck is in the same boat, though his experience comes from enjoying a very fruitful CHL career that culminated with the Port Hope native earning MVP honours at the Memorial Cup.

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And while it’s always fun to suggest the team must add new blood, there’s more to it than just removing a player from a projected lineup and replacing him with a 20-year overflowing with potential. Ideally, the Canadiens would run a meritocracy, but the process is slightly more complicated than most would assume.

Waiver status, trades, contracts, available ice time, and roles are just some of the details that will influence the roster construction going forward. With that in mind, by breaking down the current situation we can get a better idea whether the Canadiens can realistically add an influx of youth to the 2024-25 lineup.

Montreal Canadiens Job Openings Among Forwards

There are 11 forwards who are essentially guaranteed a roster spot once camp opens. Of course, the team could always send a veteran to the AHL, as they did with Joel Armia last season. And then there’s other roster movement options, including trading some of the surplus forwards.

But for now, let’s assume Armia, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine, Brendan Gallagher, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans, and Josh Anderson will be in the lineup when the Canadiens host the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 9.

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Personally, I have no issue suggesting Joshua Roy should be counted among those who clearly deserve a spot, but given that he does not have to go on waivers, there’s an outside chance he may end up in the AHL. It would be unfortunate, as Roy has already established himself as one of the best forwards on the team, but such is life in a professional sports setting.

If we assume the Canadiens agree with the assessment of Roy, that leads us to 12 pencilled-in forwards. In other words, the team’s four lines are already spoken for. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no job openings. However, it does mitigate some of the value of the available roster spots, as they’d be closer to the 13th or 14th forward depending on the configuration of the roster heading into the 2024-25 season.  That’s not an ideal situation for a young player who needs ample ice time to continue down the established development path.

In a perfect world, the Montreal Canadiens would enter into trade negotiations with a team looking for a veteran forward. The return would not be as important as the ice time that would be liberated with such a trade, similar to when the team traded defenceman Johnathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils. The return was unspectacular, but the true prize was the opportunity it opened up for top prospects David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux.

Owen Beck and Oliver Kapanen are likely to earn a roster spot in the NHL at some point in their careers, as their skill sets project nicely to the highest level of hockey, but as it stands, finding a job in the NHL this season may not be realistic unless general manager Kent Hughes manages to carve out a role for them through the use of a trade.