MTL rebuild a la NYR

Team: 2022-23 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 26, 2022

Published: Feb. 26, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

tl;dr : MTL rebuilds like NYR and brings the biggest fish on the FA market for a 2-3 year rebuild

Lebrun said that a part of the plan of MTL is to attract 1 or 2 "grandes vedettes", aka star players.

We can take this with a grain of salt, since MTL never really attracted superstars. But Hughes who has been working closely with players as an ex-agent, knows how to attract players and said MTL has all the tools to bring superstars (structured contracts due to Molson big pockets, financial help on how to diminish taxes, etc.)

So what about a rebuild a la Gorton, when he brought Panarin to NYR? If Forsberg ever makes it to the FA market, he would be 27 y/o (28 during summer), same thing as Panarin back then.

Panarin is also paid with bonus only, MTL could very well do that to bring Forsberg.

Yes it's not MTL biggest need, but Forsberg could be the biggest fish on the market and if we have in mind a quick rebuild of 2-3 like it was stated by MTL (maybe only implicitly but that seems the plan), Forsberg could very well still be a top performer at 30-31


Moves :

Lehko Chiarot Kulak traded at TDL

Petry : could very well be traded, but the hole at D would be enormous.

Fleury : If Price can play, buyout Byron + move Armia for free and remove Fleury

Schultz : MTL still needs a D that can play PP2, Schultz isnt having a great year so he takes a discount. Could be Goligoski or De Haan

Guhle : According to Basu, MTL seems him in the NHL next year, and Basu too after scouting him.

Weak C & LD but hey, it's a rebuild