The Montreal Canadiens have been able to quickly turn around their fortunes in recent seasons as the once rebuilding team has now emerged as one of the top teams in the NHL. This past season in particular showed the progress that has been made in Montreal as the results showed on the ice. The club made it to the eastern conference finals for the first time since 2021, in which they were ousted by the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. The success of late has come through the talented young core that has been assembled by this front office.
The strength of the Canadiens young player pool was reflected in Corey Pronman of The Athletic's under-23 NHL rankings. Three Canadiens placed in the top 20 of his list; those players in question being Juraj Slafkovsky in fourth, Ivan Demidov in eighth and Lane Hutson in 11th.
The players that were featured high on the list for Montreal were the ones you would expect. All three played integral roles for the team this season with their strong performances. Slafkovsky took that next step forward in his game as he amassed 30 goals and 43 assists for 73 points in 82 regular season games. This was as a career-year for the 2022 first overall pick. Demidov enjoyed a solid rookie year as he recorded 19 goals and 43 assists for 62 points in 82 games. He was nominated for the Calder trophy, which ultimately went to the New York Islanders Matthew Schaefer. Hutson led the way on the blueline with 12 goals and 66 assists for 78 points in 82 games. He was also impressive in the postseason as he tied for first with Nick Suzuki on the team in production with three goals and 13 assists in 19 games.
General manager Kent Hughes has done a fine job drafting this young core that has been developed nicely by head coach Martin St. Louis. It should be no surprise that the Canadiens also placed highly on The Athletic's front office rankings as the team's management was listed second in the running by the fans who were polled.
This latest season has provided hope that this project is going in the right direction and the evidence is now beginning to show. The prospect's for this group being able to put an end to Montreal's 33 year Stanley Cup drought appear strong. Hughes has been able to lock in most of his top youth players at team-friendly deals for the long haul. This has given him the salary cap flexibility to be able to construct a strong squad around these core pieces. That has to be the next item on his agenda list. If this Canadiens team is to break over the hump come playoff time, they need more veteran support in this lineup. A top-six forward to pair with Demidov and top-four defenseman to play with Hutson have been identified as targets for this team. We'll see if Hughes has any more moves on the horizon as the new season gets underway soon.
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