Rebuild soon to be completed: here is a proposed CH lineup for the 2023-2024 season

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Jeff Drouin
September 4, 2022 (10:27)

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We mentioned this earlier, but when Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton were hired by the Montreal Canadiens, fans were hoping for a quick and efficient rebuild, like the New York Rangers.

It may well be that Hughes and Gorton are on their way to success. It looks like the famous Montreal Canadiens rebuild could soon be over.

Why? The Habs now have a very impressive bank of young players, such as Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Justin Barron, Sean Farrell, Joshua Roy, Filip Mesar, Owen Beck, Jordan Harris, Logan Mailloux, Lane Hutson and many others.

On top of that, the CH will have the opportunity to add two other very promising young players with its two 2023 first round picks (the one from Montreal and the one from Florida), two picks that are considered to be truly exceptional.

Imagine if, on top of all that, we add a Connor Bedard, an Adam Fantilli or a Matvei Michkov.

THERE'S MORE

At the end of the 2022-2023 season, Kent Hughes has made sure he has a lot of room on his payroll, because a lot of big contracts will expire.

This will allow him to really have fun, and try to sign some big free agents next July.

Evgeny Dadonov, Paul Byron, Jake Allen, Sean Monahan and Jonathan Drouin's contracts will all be up (plus a few others).

That's over $23 million that will suddenly become available to Hughes (to store around).

A SPECTACULAR CROP OF FREE AGENTS IN 2023

There are indeed more than nine star players who will be free as a bird next summer (and who could be targeted by Kent Hughes). One thing is for sure, the CH will have the necessary space on the payroll to acquire one or two of them.

Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinnon, Vladimir Tarasenko, Joe Pavelski, Alex DeBrincat, David Pastrnak, Timo Meier (depending on his next deal), Jordan Kyrou (depending on his next deal), Dylan Larkin, Ryan O'Reilly, Bo Horvat, John Klingberg, Frederik Andersen, Tristan Jarry...

They are all heading towards autonomy next summer.

CH ROSTER PROPOSAL FOR THE 2023-24 SEASON

The next year is shaping up to be an extremely interesting one for the Montreal Canadiens, and just for fun, we've attempted a lineup proposal for the 2023-2024 season.

Possible additions for Kent Hughes:

- Draft Adam Fantilli (let's go with more realistic, but obviously getting your hands on Connor Bedard would be the home run). Fantilli remains an outstanding player, who would be a first overall pick in many vintages.

- Sign David Pastrnak, a sensational winger who has expressed some openness to leaving Boston (and who Jeff Gorton knows well). He's only 26 years old. This would be our Artemi Panarin, if you compare it to the Rangers' quick rebuild.

- Resigning Sean Monahan at a low cost.

- Obviously re-sign Cole Caufield.

- Sign John Klingberg, a very productive defenseman who has struggled to find a home this season, but is still a major piece (He could be there waiting for a Lane Hutson).

Potential 2023-2024 lineup (a reminder, for a third time, that we're attempting this exercise just for the sake of it):

Juraj Slafkovsky - Nick Suzuki - Cole Caufield

Josh Anderson - Kirby Dach - David Pastrnak

Adam Fantilli - Sean Monahan - Brendan Gallagher

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (or Joshua Roy) - Jake Evans - Joel Armia

For this exercise, we consider that Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Drouin, Christian Dvorak, Evgeny Dadonov and Paul Byron will not be back in Montreal, in one year (either because of a trade, or because of a departure via free agents).

Defense:

Kaiden Guhle - John Klingberg

Joel Edmundson - Justin Barron

Michael Matheson - David Savard

Jordan Harris

It's hard to predict, because so much can change in a year, but the point here is that this could be an extremely interesting lineup, with the addition of a Bedard / Michkov / Fantilli, and with the possible addition of a big free agent or two (thanks to the space freed up on the payroll).