Montreal Canadiens general manager, Kent Hughes, has a three month window to evaluate his team before the NHL trade deadline. At this point the Habs sit with with fourth worst points percentage in the league and that may seem discouraging. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Lately, the team has been playing better and that could be due to a number of factors. Kirby Dach seems to be slowly rounding into form after missing a year of hockey. Play in the defensive zone seems to have been simplified and the results have been better. Sam Montembeault has upped his game, too. And a couple of key wins has had to boost the confidence of the young squad.
Now we may be able to add the imminent return of Patrik Laine. As a 19 year old, he was second in the league in goals scored with 44, trailing only Alex Ovechkin in that department. Those totals outpaced players like Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evgeni Malkin and Nikita Kucherov. While it may be unrealistic to expect Laine to score at that pace again, it would be foolish to disregard the potential he brings to the Montreal offence.
Hughes will be closely monitoring the impact that Laine has on the team.
In the minors and in Europe, Hughes can also evaluate the progress of players like Jakub Dobes, Owen Beck, Logan Mailloux, Adam Engstrom, Oliver Kapanen and of course, Ivan Demidov. An additional three months of play will give him a good sample size on which to base those evaluations.
The performance of the Canadiens and of the individual players in the organization between now and the trade deadline will help shape the decisions the Montreal general manager will be making. At this point, the team still hasn’t played with a full roster but three more months of play and the return of Laine to active duty will give him a clearer idea of what he has to work with.
While we all like to speculate on potential acquisitions and departures, a lot of evaluation still needs to be done. In the meantime, if we look beyond the current standings there is a growing sense of optimism to be found.
