Having a surplus of attackers can be a luxury when the infirmary is overflowing. However, it can quickly turn into a thorn in the side when everyone, or almost everyone, is healthy.
• Read also: Three causes of Golden Knights success
• Read also: The sale of the Senators is really in the plans
This is currently the case with the Canadian. Since the start of the season, Martin St-Louis has had to play musical chairs with certain players to make sure everyone sees some action. Maneuvering with 15 attackers when only 12 of them can put on their uniforms is not easy.
Kent Hughes solved part of the problem by placing Evgenii Dadonov on the injured list. The name of the Russian will appear there until Monday, inclusively. This relocation allowed the Habs, despite the return of Joel Edmundson, to respect the limit of 23 players.
However, this measure is only temporary. Also, over the past week, Dadonov, Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman have been left out.
We’re talking about forwards whose salary footprint is $5.5 million (Drouin), $5 million (Dadonov) and $4.5 million (Hoffman). It’s expensive in players on the bridge for a club whose cushion is practically non-existent under the salary cap.
Too expensive for their performance
Therefore, it is not surprising to hear across the branches that the general manager of the Canadiens is trying to create a market for each of these three forwards.
According to Pierre LeBrun, of the TSN network, Hughes would have contacted Brian MacLellan, his counterpart of the Capitals, to inform him of the availability of his club. At first glance, MacLellan seems like an interesting dance partner since Washington— lost the services of Connor Brown.
Victim of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, the 28-year-old forward, acquired from the Ottawa Senators against a second-round pick in July, will miss six to eight months of activity.
Also according to LeBrun, there would be no agreement on the horizon between the two teams.
It is easy to understand why. What DG would bother with skaters whose performance is clearly insufficient, when the season is not yet a month old?
A production for two
Hughes would no doubt have more success if he announced Nick Suzuki or Cole Caufield are in the market. Which, of course, will not happen. Since the start of the campaign, the dynamic CH duo has literally dragged the team on its shoulders.
Between them, they scored 13 of the team’s 30 goals. We are talking about 43.3% of the production of the Habs. It is one goal less than all the other attackers in the formation. And on that, Christian Dvorak scored his three in the game at Buffalo.
Suzuki, the playmaker, and Caufield, with the precision and liveliness of his shooting, are spectacular to watch go. Not to mention that St-Louis, after mixed successes with Josh Anderson, Sean Monahan and Hoffman, seems to have found, in Kirby Dach, the ideal partner for its front line duo.
However, to increase the chances of success of the Canadian, who still managed to return from his four-game trip with a harvest of five points, it will take a little more diversified contribution.
Avaricious Knights
Starting tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights, the team with the fewest goals allowed since the start of the season, with 23.
Defeated only twice in 12 games, Bruce Cassidy’s squad have won their last six games.
♦ Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield were both named Molson Cup recipients for the month of October. A presentation honoring the two winners will be held tonight before the game against the Vegas Golden Knights.