Buy out Drouin's contract and trade Dvorak: two big proportions to Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton

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Jeff Drouin
April 29, 2022 (9:29)

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As the curtain closes on the Habs' disastrous 2021-2022 season, many pundits have already begun to speculate on the decisions management will have to make for next season.

As reported by my colleagues at Marqueur.com, Nicolas Cloutier and Anthony Martineau of TVA Sports have revealed what they would do if they were in Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton's shoes.

For Martineau, he would opt to buy out the last year of Jonathan Drouin's contract.

"I would buy out Jonathan Drouin's contract, he only has one year left at $5.5M, but buying him out would only cost $1.8M over two years which would give Hughes some breathing room."

As for Cloutier, center Christian Dvorak should be traded to not only save his salary but also to give more ice time to younger players.

"With the Habs current center line and the potential center player drafted this year (Wright, Cooley, Savoie), I would trade Dvorak. His style of play doesn't fit with the Habs and I think we can still get a little something. Plus, we'd save $4.5M and it would give more ice time to the likes of Evans, Pitlick and Poehling."

Still interesting as an analysis. I have to admit that in Dvorak's case, I wasn't sold on his play at the beginning of the season but since returning to the game in March, he's been able to take his game up a notch and produce more consistently. He has 15 points in his last 21 games.

As for Drouin, the fact that he has only played 34 games this year could influence the Habs management to be a little more patient with him but the idea of saving $5.5 million for next year is not bad either.

But like many Canadiens fans, I would like to see him play a little longer under Martin St-Louis to see if he can move to the next level.