WINNIPEG — This is the hard part, and Montreal Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton knows it.
Three games ahead of the trade deadline, his team ranks sixth in the NHL in points percentage, which is as representative as anything else you’d look at to evaluate where it’s stood versus its competition this season. The Canadiens have, at times, set the frenetic pace in the most competitive division in hockey, and they haven’t fallen off at all since the puck dropped in October.
That they’ve done so — despite being the youngest team in the league, despite suffering long-term injuries to key players, and despite going through goaltending dips that would crater most other teams — has impressed Gorton.
“I think it tells you that our team’s evolving as a pretty good team, and they’re confident that they’re pretty good, and I think somewhere along the way we’re a team that thinks we can win every night,” he said during a lengthy interview with Sportsnet held a day before the Canadiens beat the Jets to get to 32-17-8 through 57 games.
“I don’t know if that was necessarily true 12-15 months ago, but I think we’ve developed that,” Gorton continued. “I think the coaches and the players have done a pretty good job of developing that. The expectation every night is to win and not just be competing. I think our team has become very confident in their play. They feel like they’re good. They know they’re going to be in every game if they play the right way, and that’s newer for us. It’s not new, but it’s newer to hear the quotes from around the league about the way we play and how we’re coached and how we’re built, and those are all good signs of our evolution and where we’re going.”
The temptation to get the Canadiens there faster is right in front of Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes.
“We’d like to be aggressive, and we will be, if need be,” Gorton said.
But he knows that desire must be balanced against the need to avoid doing anything to obstruct the longer-term goal of turning the Canadiens into perennial contenders.
Because even if both Gorton and Hughes are excited by what they’re seeing from the Canadiens this season, they’re not under the illusion that adding a player or two ahead of the March 6 deadline would necessarily launch them into their window.
Even with the Eastern Conference appearing as wide open as it’s been, Gorton and Hughes remain clear-eyed.
“I’ve worked for a few people in hockey who always felt that if you just get in, you have a chance, and that was their philosophy. And I understand that thought process,” Gorton said. “When you have a team that you feel like is pretty good and you add a piece or two, you know what it could mean.
“But Kent and I spend a lot of time analyzing that next thing, and we’re in a phase where whatever we do next is really important to get right. When you ask how we balance our long-term vision with not wasting the opportunity in front of us, it’s hard to answer if this is the time or when the time will be (to strike) because you really don’t know until something is presented to you. Kent’s really good at being really on top of what is out there, talking to managers a lot. He’s pretty thorough. I think our job is to be ready for whatever it is and when those decisions come, whether they come today or tomorrow or months down the road.”
It was a long way of saying the Canadiens won’t make moves just to make them or make moves just because teams typically do from this position in the standings.
Gorton and Hughes are looking for the right fit(s) with their group, for players who help both in the short and long term. And if none are available between now and March 6, they’ll wait.
They’ve already found much of what they were looking for through the first portion of this critical transition phase of the Canadiens rebuild.
The move for Alexandre Carrier two Decembers ago kicked it off. The 29-year-old was acquired for 24-year-old Justin Barron to address an immediate need for a steady, right-handed veteran on the blue line to help keep the Canadiens playing meaningful games last season, but also to serve their future as a player under contract through 2027.
The decision Gorton and Hughes made to then hold all their pending unrestricted free agents through last year’s trade deadline served the goal of making last year’s playoffs and the future goal of seasoning the team enough to march through future playoffs when the team has fully matured. And the summer trades for 22-year-old Zachary Bolduc and 26-year-old Noah Dobson — along with Dobson’s signing to an eight-year contract — were moves made to bolster an already-improved team while also further solidifying its future core.
Gorton and Hughes then made a wise bet on Alexandre Texier in November, and, until they extended the 26-year-old’s contract for two more seasons, that appeared to be a move for the here and now.
So did the one that had them ship Columbus’ 2026 second-round pick (originally obtained in the 2024 trade for Patrik Laine) to the Los Angeles Kings for 32-year-old Phillip Danault, though Danault being under contract for one more season also balanced that.
If other such opportunities present themselves before the trade deadline, Gorton assured the Canadiens will pounce on them.
Meanwhile, he and Hughes can be that much more selective because their presumed needs coming into the season — for a second-line centre and a right-handed partner for Lane Hutson — have been downgraded to wants.
At least for now.
“At the end of last season, everyone was calling for that second-line centre and for a right D,” Gorton said. “We heard them, but at the same time, I think in-house, we have guys that have done a really good job of some of things that people have been calling for. I don’t think anyone really thought Oliver (Kapanen) could do what he’s done, and he’s done a real good job for us in his rookie year. In a lot of ways, he’s taken the pressure off that demand. Noah’s come in and pretty quietly been really good. I don’t think he gets enough credit for how good he’s been. Very consistent, adds a lot to our team, and fits right in.”
Ivan Demidov has been a star throughout his first full season. Juraj Slafkovsky has blossomed as the driving force of Demidov and Kapanen’s line, while Texier and Kirby Dach have combined to adequately fill the role Slafkovsky vacated next to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
Several other players remain internal options to give the Canadiens the ideal mix up front — including Alex Newhook, who had an excellent start before suffering an ankle fracture he’ll return from when play resumes.
Laine, who missed the last 14 weeks after surgery to repair a core muscle, is expected to be back to full health by then, too, even if Gorton wouldn’t comment on his status beyond confirming that, despite being a regular at practice over the last two weeks, Laine hadn’t been cleared to return to game action before the Olympic break.
If the 27-year-old Finn sees any post-Olympics action, we expect it to be for someone other than the Canadiens.
As I recently wrote, Laine’s 20 goals in 52 games helped the Canadiens make the playoffs last season, but they’ve scored the second-most goals in the league without him this season and even half his remaining salary being cleared would offer the team a level of flexibility it doesn’t currently possess under the salary cap.
We would expect the Canadiens to need to retain up to half of Laine’s prorated $9.1-million salary to get the remainder of his expiring $8.7-million cap hit off their books. But coupling that sacrifice with an asset to move him doesn’t appear to be on the table, according to league sources who confirmed his name has been out there.
We’ll see if that changes if Laine hasn’t been traded by deadline day.
Although Gorton wouldn’t touch the subject, he did acknowledge something might need to be subtracted from the Canadiens, regardless — if not to clear cap space, then to clear the logjam at the bottom end of the roster.
“If you look at our roster, I think it’s pretty clear we have extra guys,” he said. “I do think adding some of the guys we added got us through the time we were pretty banged up, so we had some depth that kept us above water and kept us playing pretty good hockey when in years past we probably would’ve caved in.”
One player who stepped up under different circumstances was rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler, who went 4-4-2 to buy rookie Jakub Dobes and veteran Samuel Montembeault time to regain their footing.
Although the possibility we’ll see Fowler in Montreal again before the end of this season can’t be stricken, Gorton said the goalie will ideally remain in Laval, where Marco Marciano (who was recently promoted to the Canadiens after Eric Raymond was fired) will work with him over the Olympic break while Gorton and Hughes finalize plans for a new goaltending coach for the Rocket.
“We’re going through a couple of names, so we should get there over the break,” Gorton said. “I think what we’ve done with Fowls is just identified that we’ve got to get him in as many pro games as possible, within reason. The AHL is a hectic schedule …
“We just want to let his play tell us when he’ll be ready. I think it’s going to be a really good thing for him that he got those 10 games with us. We sent him back down there with a clearer picture of what it looks like here, and he crossed a couple of things off, like playing in different rinks that are hostile and playing at the Bell Centre on a Saturday night.”
With Dobes thriving of late and Montembeault stabilizing, Gorton doesn’t expect to make any moves on this front before the deadline.
“We’re probably more comfortable than everyone suggests we are right now with our two goalies,” Gorton said. “I think that we’re all encouraged with how they’ve both been playing lately. We’re encouraged with what we’ve seen from Sam since he came back (from his December conditioning stint in Laval) and Dobes has been better.”
In front of them, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble have been alternating and short-shifting as the Canadiens’ sixth defenceman, and Gorton said it’s foreseeable they’ll continue to do so post-deadline.
“We clearly have five guys that are playing more than most teams have,” he added. “Some nights, Arber will get more ice, or Struble will get more ice, but those guys are in a tough spot. Right now, they’re fighting for one spot, and that’s a lot of pressure. And if you’re not playing a lot of minutes, it becomes harder and harder.
“But we like Arber and Strubes a lot. We have some young guys coming that we like a lot, too. We’ll make decisions on all of them as they come, but we have a lot of faith in Arber and Strubes and what they bring, so we don’t feel an imminent need to bring in another guy.”
But Gorton and Hughes are open to all possibilities.
They may not be prepared to throw picks over prospects at rentals, but Gorton said he and Hughes are “not afraid” to wade into that market.
He didn’t deny a scoring forward who brings size, edge and winning experience — like some of the ones the Canadiens have been linked to in the rumour mill all season — would be appealing.
But so would a few other things.
And if none of them come before the deadline, Gorton appears fine with that.
“We like our team,” he said. “We’re excited with where we’re at. I don’t know exactly what’s next, but I’m excited to see what we can do, even if I don’t think it necessarily means it’s coming prior to the deadline.”
After it, provided Michigan’s season ends ahead of Montreal’s, 2024 first-round pick Michael Hage could get a chance to show he can help, though that went without saying in our conversation with Gorton.
It started with him declaring: “I think it’s pretty clear that we have a skilled team, that we’re improving in the areas where we want to improve, and that we’re resilient.
“I think we’re coming together at the right time,” Gorton concluded. “I see a lot of good things going on. It’s a good group of guys that like each other a lot, that want to play together, and they believe in themselves. I just feel like we’re getting better and better, and as the season’s getting harder and harder, I think they’re responding. I like our consistency for the most part. So far, so good.”
