The Montreal Canadiens' front office inspires a lot of confidence as things stand, but can it clear the final hurdles?
Every year, The Athletic puts out an article about how much confidence fans have in each NHL front office. Unsurprisingly, the Montreal Canadiens have fared well in those rankings. Last year, Kent Hughes and co. were fifth, but this year, they moved into second place. The article grades each team in six areas: roster building, cap management, draft and development, trading, free agency, and vision.
The Habs grades given by the public are generally better than those given by the Canadiens’ fan base; they’ve always been a demanding bunch, and it’s never been as clear as in this exercise. While the public deservedly gave the Canadiens an A+ for cap management, Montreal fans gave them an A. It’s hard to imagine what Hughes could have done better in that respect. He’s got his young core locked up to lengthy and team-friendly deals that have positioned the Canadiens extremely well to add quality pieces around that core.
So far, four and a half years into his appointment, Hughes has shown that he’s the kind of man who makes a plan and sticks to it. Rather than pouncing on big-name free agents with big contracts (when some were available), he has decided to trust his team’s internal growth, and so far, it has worked; there’s no denying that. Montreal has made the playoffs in the last two years, and they even made the Eastern Conference final this past season, but drafting and developing can only go so far.
It’s impossible to use all of the prospects one’s organization drafts. Eventually, the pipeline gets too crowded because of the contract limit. If you want to have a balanced team, you can’t just keep adding the same kind of players and hope that they will bring you to the promised land (see the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Edmonton Oilers, for instance). At one stage, all that unexploited potential in the pipeline has to be turned into immediate help if you want to get over that hump.
It’s like Dom Luszczyszyn says in his article about the confidence rankings when he discusses the Florida Panthers:
The one downside of trading every pick? Getting a tough grade for drafting and developing. No worries – the Panthers have figured out that when the window is wide-open, talent now is better than talent tomorrow.
The Canadiens' draft last year made it clear they were trying to get bigger and grittier. However, prospects need time to develop, and by the time this class comes to maturity and is ready to make an impact, Nick Suzuki’s contract will be nearly done. Furthermore, chemistry takes time; kids don’t tend to perform all that well in their first few years as professionals (though there are exceptions like Lane Hutson or Demidov).
To get over the last few hurdles, the Canadiens will likely need to get some immediate help while sacrificing some of their futures, but that’s easier said than done. When other GMs see how well a team is doing, they’re in no hurry to give them the last few pieces they need to become Stanley Cup champions, and eventually, the GM who has a near-complete puzzle ends up having to bite the bullet and accept that they cannot put too high a value on their assets, making them untradeable.
The other GMs are seeing Hughes coming from miles out now; they know the Canadiens have built a strong foundation, and they will force the Habs to pay dearly for those needle-moving pieces. There comes a time when a GM has to be ready to overpay, and knowing when that time has come isn't always easy. When the finish line is within reach, you have to dig deep to improve your roster.
Hughes won’t be dealing every pick; he’s made it quite clear that he wants to build a perennial contender, but he’ll have to be ready to sacrifice some of them. Such is the reality of a team whose contention window is open. Is the Canadiens’ contention window open? It certainly feels like it is, given that they were one of the last four teams playing hockey this Spring. However, their evisceration by the Carolina Hurricanes shows a few pieces are still missing from their puzzle, and logic dictates those elusive pieces can’t all come from the draft.
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