Canadiens 2024 Free Agency Preview: Could a homegrown veteran sign in Montreal?

MONTREAL — Free agency may be an avenue the Montreal Canadiens explore to improve their team for the here and now, but it isn’t the main one I’d expect them to drive down between now and the beginning of next season.

As it stands, this team is still at least a year out from entering its competitive window, and the incentive to go cannonballing into the free-agent pool before that happens isn’t there.

That doesn’t mean the Canadiens won’t make a splash or two on Canada Day, or in the couple of days that follow it. It just means they aren’t going to commit max dollars and term to a player when they know they won’t be able to make the most of the years that player will actually be worth the money he’s being paid.

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has been consistent on that point since taking over in 2021, and executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton reinforced it prior to this weekend, when he met with reporters ahead of the draft in Las Vegas.

“I think it’s too soon (to chase the best player),” he said. “We’ll look and see what those big names are thinking. They have to be thinking the same thing we do, too.

“We have a lot of young players that are developing… I wouldn’t want to stunt somebody’s growth for something that was an older player for a long-term deal. Stuff like that, that would set back the rebuild.”

What would propel it forward is multifaceted.

Is there a younger free agent who can help the Canadiens take their next steps and still prove serviceable once the team is closer to the top of the mountain? I can think of one.

Are there are a couple of veterans who still have what it takes to help the Canadiens get to the next level and are willing to only be around for that part of the process? I can think of a couple of homegrown ones, and either one of them would be a welcome addition.

But, for now, trade remains the expressway to the Canadiens’ destination.

I know one didn’t materialize on the draft floor, but the opportunity to make some major ones is still as ripe as it was 48 hours ago. The Canadiens need goals, they need a top-six forward who can score them and/or create them for other players around them, and there are several candidates still available on the market that qualify.

Gorton (justifiably) thinks the Canadiens have what it takes to get one.

“I feel like we have a lot of assets,” he said. “We have draft capital, we have good young players.”

The Canadiens have two first-round picks, two second-round picks, three third-round picks and two fourth-round picks in the 2025 draft at their disposal. They have an abundance of NHL defenceman—particularly on the left side—and not enough room for all of them. And they have one of the deepest prospect pools in hockey.

Now all the Canadiens need is the right dance partner.

Free agency might provide more than one. Some teams will scramble to make space for a player they want to sign. As others commit to some of the players available, the possibility they’ll move on from some of the ones they have becomes stronger. And the Canadiens will be waiting by the phone to facilitate that.

They’ve been active on it for weeks.

“Our phones are ringing,” said Gorton. “I’ve been in situations where we didn’t have that (trade capital), and our phones weren’t ringing.”

He and Hughes will pick them up to make a few pitches to players hitting the market, too.

I can’t say with any certainty which ones they’ll land, but I do know one thing: There will be plenty of change to Montreal’s roster between now and training camp.

Management wants to support the organic growth it has seen from the Canadiens over the past two years. It wants to reward the commitment they’ve seen from everyone who’s helped take the team to where it finds itself two years and change into this rebuild, and it will aggressively pursue the opportunity to do that between now and training camp.

“We want to do this quickly and the right way and we want to the best rebuilding,” Gorton said. “That’s the job.”

Salary cap space: $9.413 million
Roster size: 19/23
Salary committed to forwards: $46.39M (52.7 per cent of cap)
Salary committed to defence: $12.3 million (14 per cent of cap)
Salary committed to goalies: $4.04 million (4.6 per cent of cap)
Salary committed to LTIR: $10.5 million (11.9 per cent of cap)
Salary committed to retention: $4.26 million (4.8 per cent of cap)
Salary committed to carryover bonuses: $1.02 million (1.2 per cent cap)

Potential UFA targets

Jake DeBrusk, 27, Left Wing, Boston Bruins, coming off $4M AAV
When I was talking about a younger free agent who could help both now and in the future, DeBrusk was front of mind.

I’m not saying the Canadiens will land this player, or that they even want to. But he’s one of very few on the market they should be willing to throw some term at.

In five of seven NHL seasons, DeBrusk has scored between 19 and 27 goals and produced between 40 and 50 points. All he’s done in the playoffs over that time is consistently shown up as one of Boston’s most effective players, notching 27 goals and 47 points in 86 contests. And he does more than just put up points.

That DeBrusk is still young enough to remain on trend—and to prove more and more valuable as the years go on—is a reason teams will be lining up for his services.

The Canadiens should be one of them, provided the market doesn’t drive the price up to a point where it wouldn’t make sense.

If it does get to a point where DeBrusk has offers exceeding six years, $5.5M-$6M per, that probably takes the Canadiens out of it. And that’s assuming DeBrusk even has them in it.

Will he be more compelled by the opportunity to join either team in his home province of Alberta? Could Seattle, Utah or Nashville appeal more to him?

Or can Hughes and Gorton make him see the merits of Montreal and sell him on the role he can play in bringing the Canadiens back to prominence?

I can’t say whether or not they want to, but I think they should consider it.

Jonathan Marchessault, 33, Right Wing, Vegas Golden Knights, coming off $5M AAV
He’s a bona fide top-six player who followed up his Conn Smythe performance for the 2023 Stanley Cup with a 42-goal, 69-point season. You’d think the Golden Knights would be bending over backwards to keep Marchessault, but it’s late in the game and the appeal of the open market to the player is probably growing stronger by the hour.

There’s got to be a couple of teams that would make this a difficult game for the Canadiens to get into. Teams willing to drive the price up so high that they couldn’t compete.

But what the Canadiens can do for the Cap-Rouge, Que., native is open up their wallets on a shorter-to-medium term deal. They could potentially offer him more over three-to-five years than some cap-strapped contenders can.

Whether or not Hughes and Gorton can convince Marchessault that the Canadiens offer him the best place to pursue his career is the question.

If they can, Marchessault jerseys sales within the first few hours of his signing would probably pay for at least his first year under contract.

David Perron, 36, Left Wing, Detroit Red Wings, coming of $4.75M AAV
The Sherbrooke, Que., native has aged like a fine wine, producing between 46 and 58 points in each of his eight seasons.

I don’t think the Canadiens would hesitate for a second to give him at least as much as he was making last season over each of the next two, and perhaps Perron would relish the opportunity to take it and play in his home province.

He’s the ideal placeholder. A player who instantly improves the Canadiens in a few different departments without blocking younger talent coming through the system.

But Perron has to want to be that for this to work.

Other teams (the Toronto Maple Leafs come to mind) will be in the mix for his services. He’s going to have an interesting choice to make.

Other potential fits:

Teuvo Teravainen
Vladimir Tarasenko
Viktor Arvidsson
Sam Carrick
Keifer Sherwood
William Carrier
Alexandre Carrier
Daniel Sprong
Stefan Noesen
Michael Amadio