Performance Of Canadiens Youth To Simplify Next Steps For Club

The early performances of some Montreal Canadiens youngsters bodes well for the future of the club, as they get set to make some important decisions this season.

The Canadiens once again find themselves as one of the youngest teams in the NHL, and those come with growing pains.

It’s one of the main reasons why NHL betting odds are so bullish on the Canadiens again this season, predicting another bottom-10 finish due to a clear lack of improvement in the roster.

But the early play of youngsters like Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, Emil Heineman and Oliver Kapanen has been huge for the growth of the club moving forward.

Especially as the club navigates a season where they’d like to be in the playoff mix, having some key youngsters establish themselves in bigger roles could help the Canadiens kill two birds with one stone down the line.

Conundrum At Forward For the Canadiens

The Canadiens top line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki are all locked into long-term deals, but the rest of the Canadiens’ forward corps is harder to predict moving forward.

For the time being, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook look like sure bets to be part of the solution, but who will round out the rest of the Canadiens’ top-9 when the time comes to compete?

In the NHL, you not only need three strong scoring lines to survive the playoffs, but also a top-end 4th line that can wreak havoc. They have Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage that can likely fill those roles in their top-6, but what about the bottom-six?

The Canadiens believe they’ve found two players that could fit in quite nicely in their future bottom-six in Heineman and Kapanen, especially with the former scoring two goals in his last two games.

Playing on the same line with veteran Christian Dvorak, this most recent audition is an interesting test, as the Canadiens have some important decisions to make prior to the end of the season.

On top of Dvorak, forwards Jake Evans and Joel Armia are slated to become unrestricted free agents at the end of this season.

Should Heineman and Kapanen continue to improve game after game, and the Canadiens find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture, the club will be more inclined to trade their pending free agents.

As it stands, the Canadiens haven’t made a decision on which direction they’d like to go with their pending free agents, but, like anything in this business, that can change quite quickly.

Kapanen and Heineman have proved to be more than capable bottom-six forwards in the short-term. After the Canadiens chose to waive Alex Barré-Boulet this week, they now have the breathing room needed to play their game and make things interesting for a franchise that is still looking for all the right puzzle pieces.

Time To Say Goodbye

The Montreal Canadiens only have one pending free agent on defence in fan-favourite, David Savard. But, it seems like they’ve been preparing his departure since last season, when they decided to slide Kaiden Guhle to the right side.

Since then, Guhle has been tasked with most of the heavy lifting on the top pair with Mike Matheson, while taking on more minutes on the penalty-kill.

With the arrival of the electric Lane Hutson, seemingly filling the hole in the Canadiens’ top-4 left by Guhle moving to the right side, the Canadiens appear to be building an intriguing defensive core moving forward.

Throw in promising youngsters like Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj, and it seems the Canadiens have the necessary pieces to make the difficult decision to move on from Savard, should they continue to grow in their new roles.

The soon-to-be 34-year-old has been a great mentor for Hutson, stabilizing the play for the energetic defender. The Canadiens aren’t in any rush to move on from Savard and value his leadership a great deal.

But, the reality is that Savard will be in his mid-30s, while other top prospects like Logan Mailloux, Adam Engstrom and David Reinbacher are surely to start pushing for starting roles with the Canadiens soon.

Having Guhle and Hutson take on starring roles for the Montreal Canadiens throughout the season, while netting a strong return for Savard as a rental, would be seen as a win-win for the organization,