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We’ve been warned, the Canadiens are not looking to add players on the free agency market this offseason. They’ve already got more players than they need signed to NHL contract, but that doesn’t mean Kent Hughes can now sit back and relax, there are still some matters that deserve his attention.
When Hughes spoke to the media after signing Caufield, he mentioned that he still had some signings left to do in Harvey-Pinard and Ylonen. The former has been signed but the latter still need a new contract. To be fair though, there’s no sense of urgency there. Ylonen has proven to be an adequate player, but he’s nothing to write home about, it would be rather surprising if another team submitted an offer sheet to the restricted free agent.
Renaud Lavoie reported during the Stanley Cup final that Logan Mailloux would be meeting with league commissioner Gary Bettman after the playoffs to sort out his eligibility to play in the NHL. That meeting has yet to take place, but it doesn’t need to happen until the Canadiens want to slot Mailloux in their NHL line-up. While his game has improved tremendously over the last year, he might benefit from a bit of time in the AHL to polish his game and besides, there are a lot of candidates for the Canadiens’ blue line this season. He can’t afford to stay up if he’ll only be used sporadically, hence why it would make sense to let him get a bit of seasoning with the Rocket, meaning that the meeting with Bettman is not exactly urgent.
The more I think about it, the more it seems to me like roster trimming should be the general manager’s priority. The problem there remains the same though, what he’s willing to part with is not exactly in high demand through the league. Mike Hoffman and Joel Armia are the most likely candidates, but their cap hit when put against their production is hardly enticing. Armia’s contract is good for two more seasons at $3.4 million per year while Hoffman will be a free agent after he plays the final year of his contract and collects another $4.5 million.
Hoffman’s performance since joining the Canadiens has been steady, he played 67 games in each season and gathered 35 and 34 points respectively (including 15 and 14 goals). Problem is, he was once known as a goal scorer on the power play but with the Canadiens’ anemic man advantage, he can hardly be described as a power play producer (four goals in the first year of his contract and a single one last season). To be fair, this Marc Bergevin signing was probably one of his worst ones. He had lost both Philip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, he knew that Weber wasn’t going to be back, and that Price’s return was a huge question mark, so he figured his team would finally need to score goals instead of relying on great goaltending. The problem is, by the time he figured that out in late July 2021, two weeks into free agency, the real goal scorers had already found new homes.
As for Armia, he’s put up 14 points on the board for each of the last 3 seasons, whether he played 40 or 60 odd games, he can’t even make it to 15 points. Furthermore, when he is playing, his presence is far from always felt and he just can’t seem to get his head in the game. No matter how good a seller Kent Hughes is, selling those two players to anyone in the league would be quite an accomplishment. The will to trade both “assets… is definitely there, but the demand just isn’t. The silver lining is, whatever happens, Hoffman will only be there for the next season.
However, the fact that Hughes mentioned on free agency day that he didn’t want to sign veterans who would effectively block the progression of his young players in the line-up gives me hope that the team might consider burying both forwards in the AHL if they do not shape up and manage to make themselves more attractive to prospective buyers.
Alright Habs fans, what should be Kent Hughes 1st priority right now? If you think it’s something else, reply with what it should be. Vote and retweet please! #GoHabsGo
— Karine Hains (@KarineHains) July 15, 2023