Canadians build a bridge to a brighter future in 2022

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Rebuild.

That’s what Canadiens fans can expect in 2022. The question is how big that rebuild will be.

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Just six months after advancing to the Stanley Cup final, the Canadians (7-23-4) begin 2022 in 31st place in the NHL overall rankings, just ahead of last place, Arizona. The Coyotes are struggling just to pay their taxes and the City of Glendale will terminate their lease at Gila River Arena after the 2021-22 season.

The Canadiens’ rapid downfall cost GM Marc Bergevin his job and team owner / president Geoff Molson hired Jeff Gorton as executive vice president of hockey operations in late November.

“I made this decision because it was necessary,” Molson said. “Our start to the season was unacceptable for the Montreal Canadiens and something had to be done to change direction.

“Now we turn the page,” added Molson. “A new beginning. I firmly believe that this organization needs a new beginning. At this stage, a new beginning is not so much at the team level, but rather at the management level.”

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When asked about the possibility of a rebuild with Gorton, Molson said: “I hear from our fan base all the time and you get a mixed bunch of comments from the fan base. But whatever decision you want to bring to the table, I will support you if it is the right thing for the Montreal Canadiens to make to be a great team in the long run. I’m not afraid of that word and I think our fans wouldn’t be afraid of that word either. I am a good listener and ask a lot of questions and try to report my opinions. And if they proposed it to me, I would take it all very seriously ”.

The Canadiens seriously need a rebuild. The reality is, they shouldn’t even have been in the playoffs last season after finishing 18th overall in the NHL with a 24-21-11 record. It was the same situation of the previous season, when they finished in 24th place in the general classification with a record of 31-31-9. Changes to the playoff schedule, divisions and formats due to COVID-19 are the only reasons the Canadiens were in the playoffs the past two seasons. They also missed the playoffs the previous two seasons and will miss the postseason again this year.

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Gorton was the general manager of the New York Rangers when they began what has been a successful rebuild in 2018 that began with a letter to fans of Gorton and Glen Sather, the team owner’s senior advisor, James Dolan, explaining his decision.

“It got to the point in New York that we had some really good teams,” Gorton said after joining the Canadiens. “We got to the (Stanley Cup) finals, we went to some conference finals. But based on where we were and our team was good, but not great, we had internal meetings and decided that that was the way to go and that it was right for the ownership level. We decided it was the right thing to do to tell our fans exactly what we were going to do. Basically, we wrote the letter and the rest is a bit of history.

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“We traded a lot of players, a lot of good players and here it is, I guess, three or four years from the letter,” Gorton added. “So the rest, I guess, you could probably figure it out. But that was the process. We got together, we discussed it, we decided to do it and we were quite open and transparent with the fans. As for bringing him here, if that’s what we decide, we’ll be pretty transparent. “

A rebuild would have to start with Carey Price. The 34-year-old goalkeeper still has four more seasons left on his eight-year, $ 84 million contract with an annual salary cap of $ 10.5 million. Price has yet to play a game this season after an offseason knee surgery and 30 days spent in the NHL / NHLPA player assistance program dealing with substance use issues.

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Price is unlikely to want to stick around for a rebuild, but he would first have to show he can still play at a high level before Gorton can explore trade options. Price also has a full no-move clause, so he would have to approve any trade and the Canadiens would probably have to eat about half of his contract on any trade.

The Seattle Kraken could have had Price for nothing in last year’s expansion draft, but he passed.

Ben Chiarot can become an unrestricted free agent this summer and will certainly be moved before the NHL’s trade deadline of March 21. Jeff Petry, Brendan Gallagher, Tyler Toffoli, Mike Hoffman and Jonathan Drouin are other veteran players that Gorton could end up trading, depending on what he can get in return and how much salary he would have to withhold.

Gorton also has 11 picks in this year’s NHL Draft, which takes place July 7-8 at the Bell Center.

Let the rebuilding begin.

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