Canadiens Mailbag: Predictions for Caufield, Suzuki, Slafkovsky and more

Final mailbag of the season, so let’s dive right in!

Engels: Hi Karine,

I think if Kent Hughes were really interested in doing that, it would’ve already happened. If not in Joel Armia’s case, then certainly in Mike Hoffman’s.

Seeing as how we’re not talking about premium players on the market here, I think the idea now is to wait until the dust fully settles on free agency, see who misses out and then try to strike a deal from there.

I don’t think Hughes views it as particularly urgent to move either of them. At least not so much so that he wants to give assets on top of potentially retaining money on the Canadiens’ salary cap, which he’d likely have to do with half the teams in the league already either over — due to LTIR spending — or within $2 million of the cap.

If retaining money plus giving up assets to move either Hoffman or Armia becomes the only choice on the trade market, Hughes might prefer to waive one or both at training camp to make room for an emerging player or two.

I don’t even like using the word “prefer” here because I don’t think it’s something he’d necessarily want to do, but sometimes doing what’s best for the team requires doing things you don’t want to do.

Engels: Normally, I’d say we save this question for another day, but Lori always seems to be thinking ahead and I like that.

She’s also clearly setting me up to start the first David Savard rumour of the year months before the hockey season starts, so I might as well oblige and watch the aggregator sites twist and tangle whatever I write into some stupid shock-value headline even I can’t help but click on.

It’s really an interesting question, though. Here’s a player who delivered exceptional value in the first two years of his four-year, $14-million deal; a player who’s been at the foundation of a positive cultural shift within the team; a player serving as a utility knife on the ice and a mentor and leader off it.

On a young team — especially on the back end, where he plies his trade — Savard’s value is substantial. On this young team, it just got even higher, with 30-year-old Joel Edmundson shipped out to leave soon-to-be-33-year-old Savard and 29-year-old Mike Matheson as the only veteran defencemen who play regularly.

But Savard is also a big, heavy, fearless right-handed defenceman with unheralded offensive ability, and that’s a luxury commodity to most playoff teams — and certainly one to all Stanley Cup contenders.

That Savard has one year left on his deal after this coming one could make him even more attractive to suitors who don’t just want to rent players. His $3.5-million AAV is only more digestible as the cap rises by over $4 million in 2024. And it only helps that his deal is structured to pay him only $2.8 million in actual dollars over the final year.

That’s all to say Savard is priced to move. And he doesn’t even have trade protection, so he can move anywhere.

That doesn’t guarantee it’ll happen, though.

Savard will have to be healthy, he’ll have to be playing at (or close to) the level he was playing at over the last two seasons and, even then, I’d suggest the Canadiens would have to be out of the playoff picture for him to get traded this season.

If they’re as little as four or five points out by the deadline and a team is offering the Canadiens what they’d want to move Savard — my bet would be on an NHL-ready prospect more than a pick — I’m sure they’d take it.

But if the Canadiens are in position, or right there with games in hand on a team they’re chasing, they could deem Savard’s value to be higher to them than it is on the market and decide to hold.

Either way, this is a subject that’s going to be explored beyond its depths between now and the trade deadline. We got a very early start, but not necessarily a premature one.

Engels: Hi Chris,

I think Carey Price will be willing to help in any way possible when he’s around, but not likely in any other official capacity until his contract expires in 2026.

I do believe Price will be more engaged with the Canadiens foundation, even if he and his family moved back to Kelowna, B.C., this summer. I know he plans to be in Montreal plenty as the season unfolds.

And then we’ll see what the future holds.

Price may be done playing, but I could see him emerge in management, player development or coaching down the line.

Engels: I don’t think the team has made any firm decisions on where David Reinbacher will play next season, but it’s a safe assumption he’ll return to Kloten and continue his development in the Swiss League.

When Reinbacher returns there is the real question.

The Canadiens will bring him to training camp and give him an opportunity to make their team. While they’re not in a rush to get the young Austrian into NHL games, they still want him to feel he has a chance to play them.

And while Reinbacher has a European out-clause in his contract for this season and next, I don’t think he’ll have any issue with playing some games for the AHL's Laval Rocket should he not make the Canadiens out of camp.

I think the Canadiens would see it as highly beneficial for Reinbacher to see a fair amount of action in North America before returning him to Kloten.

Once they do that, they aren’t bringing him back.

And I think the only way they decide to do that early, versus playing Reinbacher for a bit in Montreal or (most likely) Laval, is if they feel they don’t want to disrupt too much of his season in Europe.

Engels: As far as I’m concerned, it’s still just the beginning for Cayden Primeau, who only has 21 games of NHL experience and is just 23 years old.

But yes, the Canadiens have to be prepared for the possibility they’ll lose Primeau on waivers if they can’t create space for him on their roster.

It’s not what they want. But Jake Allen is signed for this season and next and is in position to be a serviceable backup to Sam Montembeault.

That puts Primeau in a battle to unseat Allen, which won’t be easy for him to do unless he has a remarkable camp.

It’s possible the Canadiens will carry three goaltenders until they can trade one, but that would be surprising given the logjam both up front and on defence.

Engels: Reasonable or hot take predictions for Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki this upcoming season?

I’ll make them based on the assumption they each play 82 games.

Reasonable: Caufield scores 37 goals, Slafkovsky hits 30 points, Suzuki puts up more than 70 points.

Hot take: Caufield puts up 50 goals, Slafkovsky scores 20 goals, Suzuki produces at least a point per game.

Engels: I think you should expect for the Canadiens to meaningful games from Day 1 of the season to the trade deadline, and possibly beyond.

Not a single result mattered last season, but they all count this season now that the goalposts have moved a little. Hughes said the Canadiens aren’t going into the tank, that he expects them to push for the playoffs — even if he’s not suggesting they’ll make them — and he has reason to believe they’re ready for that.

Martin St. Louis will have to continue to push the right buttons, some veterans will have to bounce back, the kids are going to have to keep taking steps forward and the internal competition is going to have to fuel this team to overachieve a bit.

But I like the Canadiens’ chances of it least being competitive — and a lot more so than they were last season.

Engels: I’d estimate Alex Newhook is probably looking at a deal that will pay him $3-4 million per season.

The question is: For how many seasons?

If Newhook wants to bet on himself, he’ll angle for a shorter-term deal. Maybe he sees his opportunity with the Canadiens as much bigger than what it would’ve been with Colorado and thinks he can capitalize on it much like Kirby Dach did last season.

But I’d think Hughes would probably prefer to give him a deal that’s similar to the four-year one Dach signed last summer. That’s a deal that would probably be most beneficial to both parties — the Canadiens get a player with high upside locked into a reasonable contract while the player gets security and a relief from the pressure of immediately playing for a new deal in a new market.

Engels: Not even a little.

When Steve Yzerman gives you a contract and then decides to waive you, that’s a pretty big red flag.

Maybe someone will pick up Zadina now that he and the Red Wings have decided on a contract termination.

But he’s wearing a buyer beware label.

I’ve had people ask why the Canadiens don’t grab him and I get it — they’re into reclamation projects.

But they’d have to believe the 23-year-old can actually reclaim his career at the NHL level and, even at that, they’ve got a lot of forwards competing for jobs already.

Brendan Gallagher is locked in as one.

Savard is an obvious candidate to be the other.

Would be interesting to see Caufield rotate in there, though.

He’s signed for eight years and this team will belong to him and Suzuki for the foreseeable future.

Engels: I was going to answer that I’d fix Twitter.

But now we have Threads, and you can follow me there: threads.net/@snericengels (https://www.threads.net/@snericengels)

Engels: I’ll say it’s Kaiden Guhle with Savard, Matheson and Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic.

I think Justin Barron and Logan Mailloux will push.

Chris Wideman is a logical choice as a seventh, because the Canadiens would rather their young players play games than watch them from the sidelines.