Welcome to August. We're inching closer to the NHL's 2026-27 season, with just 57 days to go until the Montreal Canadiens take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
It's been a relatively quiet offseason thus far for Montreal Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes. Canadiens fans have been holding out hope that Hughes will be able to land a second line centerman before the season begins, but that search is ongoing as of today. With the lack of centermen available, combined with the high prices of those who are, it seems more likely than not that the Canadiens will begin the season with what they have currently.
Aside from their search for a new second line centerman, Kent Hughes came into the month of August with four restricted free agents in need of contracts for the 2026-27 campaign and one of them, who they acquired from the Utah Mammoth in late June, has put pen-to-paper on a new deal.
Montreal Canadiens sign RFA defenseman Maksymilian Szuber
On Monday morning, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they've agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract with Polish-born German defenseman Maksymilian Szuber for the 2026-27 season.
"Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Monday that the team has agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract (2026-27) with defenseman Maksymilian Szuber." the Canadiens said in a press release earlier today.
Szuber, who was born in Opole, Poland, joined the Montreal Canadiens a little over a month ago in a swap of restricted free agents with the Utah Mammoth. Joshua Roy, who fell in the Canadiens' depth chart over the past 18 months, went the other way and signed with the Mammoth just hours after being dealt.
The 23-year-old was selected in the sixth round, 163rd overall, by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. After returning to Germany for his D+1 year to play for ECH Red Bull München, Szuber made his way to North America for the 2023-24 campaign.
For the past three seasons, Szuber has played with the American Hockey League's Tucson Roadrunners, registering 87 points (25 goals, 62 assists) in 200 games. Last year, he set a new career-high in goals with 11, while also tallying 16 assists.
Szuber has just one NHL game under his belt, which came back on April 9th, 2024 with the Arizona Coyotes. In Montreal, there's a bit of a logjam on the blueline at the moment, but a strong start to the new season in Laval could put him in contention for a call-up, if an injury occurs.
One down, three to go for Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes
With Maksymilian Szuber now locked up for the 2026-27 season, Montreal Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes is now down to just three restricted free agents he needs to sign in the weeks ahead.
Forwards Zachary Bolduc and Sasha Pastujov, the latter of whom was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks last Monday, as well as defenseman Arber Xhekaj, are all in need of new deals ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. While financial details from Szuber's contract aren't known yet, assuming he's at league minimum or slightly above, the Canadiens will have a little under $9 million to work with for that trio of RFAs, a good chunk of which will go to Bolduc.
Thankfully, Canadiens have plenty of time to get these deals done, with training camps around the National Hockey League opening up in mid-September. The Canadiens will open their five-game preseason slate with split-squad games against the Maple Leafs in Montreal & Toronto on Saturday, September 19th.