As far as late-round draft picks have gone, Jake Evans has been a nice success for the Habs, going from a seventh-round selection to a regular. But heading into next season, the 27-year-old has a lot to prove.
Montreal’s lone remaining restricted free agent has put pen to paper on a new contract as the Habs announced on Monday that they’ve re-signed winger Jesse Ylonen to a one-year, two-way contract.
It would be fair to say that Cayden Primeau’s time as a pro has had its ups and downs to the point where he’s on the borderline of being an NHL goaltender. Unfortunately for the Habs, there are about to be even more questions for him next season.
At this point of the summer, most of Montreal’s prospects either know or really have a good idea of where they’re likely to be playing when training camps open up in a couple of months. However, there are a pair of youngsters that don’t yet have a place to play in 2023-24.
When I looked at Montreal’s original restricted free agent list (before they picked up Alex Newhook), there was only one contract that I thought could be iffy, Rafael Harvey-Pinard’s. Instead, his was done early but there remains one that isn’t done in winger Jesse Ylonen.
Some years, I’ve sat down and graded Montreal’s full draft class. That would be a difficult exercise this time around so instead, here are some thoughts on each of their selections.
I wanted to wait until the dust settled on the offseason activity before really deciding to dig into Montreal’s pick of David Reinbacher at fifth overall over some forwards on the board. It’s a decision I wasn’t exactly shocked by and I’m not convinced it was the wrong one either.
Just before free agency began, the Habs moved Joel Edmundson to Washington with 50% retention for a pair of draft picks. Now that the dust has settled on the free agent market for the time being, do our writers think it was a good move, or should they have waited to deal him?
The Canadiens took care of two of their remaining three restricted free agents on Thursday, announcing the re-signings of forward Lucas Condotta and defenceman Nicolas Beaudin to two-way contracts.
Last year, after acquiring Kirby Dach at the draft, Montreal somewhat surprisingly gave him a four-year bridge contract. They’ve taken the same approach with newcomer acquisition as the team announced on Tuesday that they’ve inked the forward to a four-year contract.