Free washer | After Dach and Newhook, what young targets for CH?

Kent Hughes wouldn’t mind getting his hands on another Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook, in the near future, to improve the Canadian’s attack. He made no secret of it on Monday during his mid-season review.

Before making a list of potential targets, let’s first analyze the profile of Dach and Newhook. They have a few things in common, like being first-round picks in 2019 and both being 22 years old. The comparisons stop there.

Dach is a big, 6-foot-4 right-handed center drafted third overall behind Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko. Newhook, drafted at 16^e rank, after Cole Caufield, is a very dynamic 5-foot-11 forward, probably best suited on the wing.

Newhook played for a powerhouse in Colorado. After the departure of Nazem Kadri, he was placed at only 21 years old in a delicate situation: in the center of the second trio within a club which aspired to a second consecutive Stanley Cup.

He wasn’t bad, with 30 points, including 14 goals, a second season of 30 points or more, but not enough to convince the Avalanche that he was the second center of the future behind Nathan MacKinnon. We preferred to replenish our draft pick bank, after having squandered our picks in the first five rounds in 2022 and the second, third and fourth rounds in 2023. We therefore accepted the 31^e and 37^e choice in total for its services in June 2023.

Unlike Newhook, Dach was playing for a rebuilding club in Chicago. A serious wrist injury deprived him of almost an entire season in his second year in the pros. He got 26 points in 70 games in his third season, at 20/21, 30 points pro rata for a full season, but despite his young age, general manager Kyle Davidson wanted to wipe the slate clean and accumulate the highs draft pick by trading Dach and 24-year-old Alex DeBrincat.

Davidson first demanded a top ten pick for Dach. Kent Hughes didn’t have one. With the emergence of Kaiden Guhle, the arrival of Jordan Harris, Arber^e overall pick by the New York Islanders. The Canadiens GM added a third-round pick, 66^e in total, to compensate.

Dach showed last year during 58 games that he had the makings of a second center, maybe even a first. He amassed 14 points in his last 17 games – a pace of 68 points in 82 games –, often played more than 20 minutes per game and showed surprising defensive efficiency for a center of his age. He seemed even more dominant in preparatory matches before seriously injuring his knee in the second game of the season.

Newhook didn’t play center very long. He was starting to develop nice chemistry on the wing with Nick Suzuki due to his speed and understanding of the game. He started the year more timidly, but had six points, including four goals, in seven games by the time to fall in combat at the end of November.

With a healthy return of Dach and Newhook, we hope, and the astonishing progression of the first trio made up of Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield, the CH would be one missing piece away from counting on two quality offensive trios.

As we have just established, not only do the profiles of Dach and Newhook differ, but the offer to obtain them does as well.

The Canadian has only one first-round pick in 2024, his own, currently ranked ninth, but could obtain a second, at the end of the first round, if he manages to trade Sean Monahan by the date transaction limit. He has a (end) second round pick, that of the Avalanche acquired in the Artturi Lehkonen trade, and lost his own, given to the Arizona Coyotes to obtain Christian Dvorak (Marc Bergevin had also given up on 27^e overall pick in 2022 for Dvorak), and two third-round picks.

The bank is better stocked in 2025. In addition to its first round choice, Montreal obtained a first round choice from the Flames (that of Calgary or Florida) to relieve the Alberta team of Sean Monahan’s contract. He also has two second-round picks, his own and that of the Penguins to allow them to jettison Jeff Petry and two third-round picks, his own and that of the Canucks obtained in the exchange of goaltender Casey DeSmith.

Hughes therefore has the amount of choices necessary to prepare an offer similar to the one offered to the Avalanche for Alex Newhook, or take advantage of the glut of young defensemen on the left, with Kaiden Guhle, Jayden Struble, Jordan Harris, Arber Xhekaj, soon Lane Hutson and Adam Engström, to complete a transaction similar to that of Dach. And why not a combination of the two?

Five candidates

Here are five targets, without knowing if they are on the exchange market or if the CH would be interested in this player profile. These are players aged 23 or younger whose performance is not yet up to their promises, but whose potential remains interesting.

Trevor Zegras

Drafted ninth overall by the Ducks in 2019, Trevor Zegras is coming off seasons of 61 and 65 points. But contract renegotiations were difficult at the start of the season and GM Pat Verbeek was content to offer him a three-year bridge contract for 5.7 million per season and he was moved from center to center. wing at the start of the season by demanding that he improve his defensive game. He had a difficult start with only seven points in twenty games before breaking his ankle recently. He will miss at least two months. The arrival of Cutter Gauthier in the organization brings even more depth to the attack with Mason MacTavish, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry, Ryan Strome already in place, and has depleted the depth on defense with the departure of Jamie Drysdale for the ‘get. But is CH interested in this player profile and do the Ducks want to get rid of him?

Kaapo Kakko

This 2019 second overall pick finally had a promising season in New York last year, putting up 40 points, including 18 goals, in 82 games at age 21, but this winger fell flat at the start of the season with just three points in 21 games before getting injured at the end of November. He has just returned to play as part of the first line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, while he was content with 10 to 12 minutes per game before his injury. Kakko was drafted by the tandem of Jeff Gorton and Nick Bobrov, now with the Canadian. Unlike Kakko, Alexis Lafrenière continued to progress this year, after his 39-point season last year, which he should easily eclipse this season. New York will probably want to keep him.

Peyton Krebs

The Sabers are already full of young players in Buffalo and several will be knocking on the door: Jiri Kulich, Matthew Savoie, Noah Östlund, Isak Rosen, among others. Obtained in the trade for Jack Eichel, Peyton Krebs, drafted at 17^e ranked in 2019 after Caufield and Newhook, is having a difficult season at the dawn of his 23rd birthday with only seven points in 42 games. He showed signs of blossoming last year with 26 points. Sometimes used on the wing, he plays center on the fourth line at present, and rarely more than twelve minutes since mid-December. However, he amassed 22 points in 48 games in his first season in Buffalo, at age 20, two seasons ago.

Alexander Holtz

The name of this seventh overall pick in 2020 emanates in conversations in Montreal, but he is enjoying a happy streak these days in New Jersey with five points in his last six games, for 20 points in 41 games this winter, by far a career high. The young man plays in a third trio. This 21-year-old right-handed winger is inexpensive and allows the Devils to maintain a good salary balance and he still has potential to develop. The Devils have an interest in keeping him, unless they want to obtain reinforcement in the shorter term.

Dylan Holloway

Cole Caufield’s former teammate at the University of Wisconsin showed great promise heading into the professional ranks, but a wrist injury derailed everything. This 6-foot-1 left winger drafted at 14^e rank in 2020 has only ten points, including four goals, in 65 games since his debut in the National League and he has just been demoted to the American League. He can play in the center or on the wing. This young man would cost less than a Zegras, Kakko or a Holtz.

No recall for Shane Wright

We really seem to want to let Shane Wright develop at his own pace in the American League. To replace the injured Matthew Beniers, the Seattle Kraken has just recalled a 28-year-old center, John Hayden, ten points, including only four goals, in 33 games at Coachella Valley. Hayden signed a two-way contract last summer worth $775,000 in the National League and $400,000 in the American League. He played just seven games in Seattle last year.

Wright, 20, the fourth overall pick in 2022, has 24 points, including 14 goals, in 32 games in the American League. He just had a three-point game on Monday, for four points in his last two games, after a slump of only five points in fourteen games.

In three games this season for the Kraken, Wright has played an average of 9:47. He still does not seem able to gain the trust of coach Dave Haskol, anxious to win as many games as possible for a second consecutive playoff qualification. .