This is undoubtedly a first in the history of the team.
Posted at 1:17 p.m.
No player appears in the promotional photo of the Canadian, but rather his new trio of leaders, Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis, wearing the title: “A new era begins”.
This ad is surprising, but remains very clever. It also reveals a striking reality, the backstage game to build the club will be more interesting than the action on the ice…
Rangers announced their rebuild on February 8, 2018, releasing a letter in which management explained their strategy to fans.
Less than three weeks later, Rick Nash, Ryan McDonagh, JT Miller and Michael Grabner were traded for a draft pick and prospects.
The GM of the Rangers at the time, the current VP operations of the Canadian Jeff Gorton, used the expression “reconstruction”, but it was not one.
We traded several veterans in their late twenties, early thirties, but if we accumulated choices and hopes, we quickly replaced the players traded with others capable of helping the Rangers in the short and medium term.
After a year of misery, where they were going to finish in 26and overall ranking in 2018-19, New York would go on to the playoffs the following season with a 37-28-5 record. They missed the playoffs last year despite going 27-23-6, but sit sixth overall today.
The Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba of this world will not flock to Montreal as they did in New York, but Kent Hughes, if he advocates patience, does not want to get bogged down in a precise expression. Reconstruction, reset, “reset on the fly”, he wants to restore the Canadian to its former glory as soon as possible. He repeated it during his press briefing on Wednesday morning.
The revival is going well. Nick Suzuki and Alexander Romanov, both 22 years old, already occupy leading roles in Montreal. Cole Caufield, 21, and Ryan Poehling, 23, have grown in confidence since the arrival of the new administration.
We will add a choice in the top three, perhaps even the first in total, in a few months, whether it is centers Shane Wright, Logan Cooley or Conor Geekie, winger Juraj Slafkovsky, brilliant at the Games Olympics, or defender Simon Nemec.
We just added a first-round pick in the trade of Tyler Toffoli, in addition to a second-round prospect, and we’ll probably get another one with Ben Chiarot, or an additional prospect.
At the risk of disappointing some, the big sale may stop after Toffoli and Chiarot. At least, no one else will attract as much as these two. And again, it will be necessary to compromise quickly in the case of Chiarot before its value drops even further.
We must stop dreaming of a first-round pick for Jeff Petry because of the heaviness of his contract. Ditto for Brendan Gallagher or Mike Hoffman. The CH would no doubt be happy to liquidate their contract even if it means getting nothing in return.
The slew of draft picks in recent years, 22 of the first three rounds in the last five vintages, will allow the new management to evaluate players who, without being possible superstars, can strengthen the club: Kaiden Guhle, Logan Mailloux, Jordan Harris, Jan Mysak, Joshua Roy, Jesse Ylonen, Sean Farrell, Riley Kidney, Blake Biondi and a few others.
Convincing Jordan Harris to join the organization in the next few months, and Kent Hughes seems confident of doing so, would be one of the best moves of his young reign.
Harris probably wouldn’t have signed a contract with the old administration, which valued big defenders and struggled to remember his first name. The young man will establish himself in the formation of the Canadian as soon as he signs his contract and should not leave it. We are talking here about one of the best defensemen in the NCAA, captain of the Northeastern Huskies, a smart, fast, complete player who spends almost 30 minutes per game on the ice. He shoots from the left, but can play both sides. On the other hand, it will be necessary to wait to see him affix his signature on the contract before declaring victory.
It will not only be a question of welcoming good young players. It will be necessary to supervise them, develop them and stimulate their confidence. The CH has not been a model of excellence in this sense in recent years. Several hopefuls have also admitted at times to feeling isolated and ignorant.
Thus a confidence of Kent Hughes during his press briefing on Wednesday deserves to be noted. Even though his new acquisition Emil Heineman is a second-round prospect, even though he’s playing somewhere in Sweden, even though he’s been traded twice already, Hughes took the time to call him to let him know that he was wanted in Montreal. A simple phone call can boost a young player’s confidence and desire to get high in hopes of joining this roster one day.
The modern era. Yes, the Canadian is modernizing.
Montreal and New York in talks?
The Canadian and the Rangers will be monitored by the deadline for transactions, warns the renowned Pierre Lebrun on Twitter. The CH want to acquire hopes and not choices and the Rangers are full of good young players. Our distinguished confer does not say more, but an offensive right-hander like Nils Lundkvist, a late first-round pick in 2018 (28and in total) would fill a need for the Canadiens. Lundkvist would be on the market, but at what price? The 21-year-old is struggling to establish himself in the NHL, behind Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox, but seems much more comfortable in the American League. Could Montreal offer a draft pick, and/or one of its prospects in another position, a Luke Tuch or a Jayden Struble, to obtain it and thus increase the modest bank of offensive right-handed defenders within the organization? ?