With Sean Monahan’s acquisition, many were expecting a follow-up move to be made. There wasn’t and GM Kent Hughes indicated why on Thursday, stating that Carey Price will be on LTIR to start the season.
The Habs made an addition down the middle back at the draft when they picked up Kirby Dach from Chicago. They added another centre on Thursday when they picked up Sean Monahan from Calgary along with a conditional 2025 first-round pick in exchange for future considerations.
August 15th is quietly a day of some importance on the NHL calendar as it’s the day that NHL rights expire for some college prospects. The Habs have someone in that situation as Brett Stapley was not signed and thus becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The right side of Montreal’s back end has been an issue in recent years and with both Shea Weber and Jeff Petry gone, it will continue to be an issue for a while. However, they do have some prospects in the system that will provide some hope for the future.
Expectations were high for Christian Dvorak heading into last season and he didn’t meet them. However, with a strong finish following the coaching change, could he be in line for bigger things in 2022-23?
The rescheduled 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship will run from August 9th through the 20th. Although several of Montreal’s top prospects won’t be attending, they will still have five players representing the organization in this event. As is tradition, we’ll keep track of their progress here.
Montreal’s newest centre Kirby Dach is in need of a new contract and remains a restricted free agent. While many feel that the Habs have to make a trade first in order to sign him, that’s not necessarily the case.
After the World Juniors were postponed back in December, the make-up tournament is set to get underway next week and will feature several Montreal prospects although not necessarily the ones at the original version of the tournament.
The Habs have brought in plenty of defencemen in recent years to their system. The left side is the deeper of the two as Montreal has depth at that spot among their NHL options while several of their better prospects also play that side.
Throughout his career, Josh Anderson has shown flashes of becoming a quality top-six power forward but he has yet to be able to do consistently. Now set to play a full season in a more offensive-oriented system, will the winger have a breakout year?