Daily Faceoff's Matt Larkin believes the Montreal Canadiens' contention window is wide open, and it's hard to argue with him.
In a recent article, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin took a look at the Atlantic Division and evaluated each of its teams’ contention windows. For the writer, the Montreal Canadiens’ contention window is wide open, just like the Buffalo Sabres’ while the Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Ottawa Senators are in a “win-now window”. He puts the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the “foggy window” category while the Detroit Red Wings are alone with the “window smashed” label.
For Larkin, the Habs window is wide open because of what he describes as a core fore formed by Nick Suzuki, who became the third NHLer ever to win the Selke Trophy and score 100 points in the same season, Cole Caufield, who’s now a 50-goal a year scorer, Juraj Slafkovsky who’s a “budding monster of a power forward” and, Lane Hutson who he calls one of the best all-around defenders in the league. He adds that the four have help in Jakub Dobes, who’s overtaken Jacob Fowler as a potential franchise goalie, and sophomore winger Ivan Demidov.
While I would agree that the Canadiens’ contention window is now open, I’m not ready to say that Dobes has emerged ahead of Fowler as a potential franchise goalie. We’ve not seen enough of what Fowler can do to make that determination. What we’ve seen so far is that Dobes can excel when he feels the team's confidence, and that Fowler does not look out of place in the NHL. The upcoming season will tell us more about the tandem, especially if Kent Hughes manages to move Samuel Montembeault. If he doesn’t, we may not see enough of Fowler to make that determination since he will likely end up in the AHL to get more playing time. The GM has said the youngster needs to play this season, making it unlikely the team would carry three netminders.
I would also argue that the Canadiens’ core isn’t just formed of the players he highlights. Granted, the first line and Hutson are the backbone of the Habs, but Demidov, Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson are also part of that core. You can have all the firepower of the world up front, but if you don’t have a stable defense, you won’t get anywhere. That much has been proved over and over again by both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. The former threw a lot of money at its core four up front and had nothing left to sort out the backend and the net. As for the latter, they used numerous high draft picks on forwards and have struggled to find players to get them over the hill on the blueline and in net.
The Canadiens’ window is open because management put together a solid framework that addresses offense, defense, and goaltending. It’s not perfect, not yet. There are still holes, like the second-line center who Larkin believes could end up being Michael Hage and the right side of defense. The article argues that the Canadiens need a veteran to plug the second-line center hole and tighten up their defense to be contenders as early as next season.
While Hughes has clearly been trying to improve the Habs’ top six to no avail so far this offseason, it feels like the Habs have proven that their window is open with or without that elusive top-six player by making it to the Eastern Conference Final, but they could definitely use more grit and physicality for spring-type hockey.
Hughes has got the Canadiens right where he wanted them to be at this stage, but it takes time to get the right complementary pieces. The Habs GM has said it: Montreal no longer chases talented players to see if there could be a fit; they now have specific needs to fill. It’s harder to find those gems and pry them away from their current team. At this stage, it certainly feels like the Habs would rather stick to a patient approach than overpay for a veteran who would end up blocking the progression of one of their youngsters.
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