Category: Dans les coulisses

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Dans les coulisses

Jeff Petry transaction: Kyle Dubas was very impressed by Kent Hughes

Since yesterday, the huge transaction that brought Erik Karlsson to Pittsburgh has been the talk of the NHL. We’re talking about a swap that involved no fewer than 12 elements and, when you look at the whole picture, seems to be truly beneficial for all three parties.

It’s a win-win situation, and all three fan bases seem satisfied. What more could you ask for?

In Montreal, fans are happy because Mike Hoffman, a forward who was not a crowd favorite, has left. And it startled a lot of people because Jeff Petry is back in town.

But clearly, when you look at what the CH accomplished yesterday, you have to salute Kent Hughes’ work once again. If he’s able to offload Petry to another club in the next few days or weeks(which is the most logical scenario) and get something substantial in return, it’ll be a real masterstroke.

A Jeff Petry for $2.3 million (with 50% of the salary withheld by the Habs) will interest teams, I have no doubt.

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And it’s not just in Montreal that the Tricolore GM’s work is recognized: at his press briefing today, Kyle Dubas admitted that he was really impressed by Hughes during the recent negotiations.

He talks about this at around the eight-minute mark of the press briefing, which you can listen to in its entirety here :

Dubas particularly liked the fact that Hughes had a clear vision for his club and knew exactly what he wanted: to use the space available under the salary cap to acquire assets and push forward the rebuild begun in the city.

He did just that yesterday by acquiring a second-round pick to take on Petry’s contract, but he’ll also be able to trade Petry and Casey DeSmith in the near future to acquire even more picks and/or prospects. In every sense of the word, this is a solid transaction for the CH.

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And clearly, Dubas agrees, saying earlier in his press briefing that he really thinks the Tricolore made a great move with this trade. He’s convinced it will help the club continue to look for assets for the future, and he likes the direction Kent Hughes is taking at the helm of the organization.

He already had a lot of respect for the Habs’ GM before the Petry deal, but he earned even more yesterday.

The CH may have come to the end of the process between the Penguins and the Sharks, as Dubas asserts, but that hasn’t stopped it from continuing to use its payroll as an asset to advance its rebuild.

And like Dubas, I can’t help but be impressed by the trade. We’ll have a clearer picture once Petry (and a goalie?) are traded, but yesterday, Montreal acquired an almost free second-round pick while getting rid of Mike Hoffman, a forward who was taking up space and blocking youngsters.

What more could you ask for?

En rafale

– Too bad.

– In a worst-case scenario, trading DeSmith isn’t a bad option.

– Logical.

– We now know the extent of the damage.

– It’s going well.

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Dans les coulisses

Kent Hughes builds the Canadiens differently from other teams

First of all, I’d like to say thank you to Mathieu. I don’t know him, but I just came across an e-mail he sent us in the site’s inbox. In this massage, Mat (yes, I dare the familiarity) tells us that he has noticed that Kent Hughes seems to be building his team differently from other formations. According to him, the Habs are one of the teams with the fewest players on their roster obtained via the free agent market, with just three.

That’s all it took to intrigue me.

When I see stuff like that, it gets to me. I have a kind of mental illness about this kind of thing. I’ve got to validate it or it’s going to be stuck in my head for eternity.

So I did what I always do, opened an Excel spreadsheet and tried to validate the whole thing and extract relevant information.

(45 minutes later… it took a long time!)

And that’s it!

I just compiled 717 contracts currently in effect in the NHL for all teams except the Seattle Kraken.

Why the Kraken?

Simply because most of their players were obtained through the expansion draft. The Golden Knights are in my assessment because they have very few players still with them from this exercise. So that didn’t alter the results of my survey too much.

As a result, Kent Hughes is indeed building his team differently from Bettman’s standards.

As far as I can see, the Montreal Canadiens only have three players signed as free agents. We’re talking about Sean Monahan, David Savard and Arber Xhekaj. The only other team with such a low number is Winnipeg with 4. The other teams average around eight.

The team’s roster also includes 10 drafted players and 13 players acquired through transactions. In both cases, these numbers are above the league average of eight and seven respectively.

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Only one other team has as many players acquired by transaction, and that’s the Chicago Blackhawks. In their case, we’re talking more about players who are there to fill jerseys than anything else.

When I saw Hughes’ approach, I wondered if it had anything to do with the state of the Canadian market. You know, all those players who seem to want to leave at the first opportunity, as was the case with Johnny Gaudreau.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), there’s really no visible correlation. The Canucks have twelve players signed, the Maple Leafs and Oilers have ten, while the Flames have nine. At this level, I’d say the difference lies more in the fact that these are teams aiming for short-term success.

The Jets, Senators and Canadiens have far fewer, and they’re clearly not at the same stage of their development.

The statistics I’ve been able to compile don’t allow me to say whether or not there’s a real exodus of players from teams in Canada to those in the United States. What I can say, however, is that Kent Hughes tends to win his trades. With that in mind, he may as well continue to use this approach to acquire talent.

In gusto

– Alex Stalock stays in Anaheim.

– André Tourigny on the verge of a deal with the Coyotes?

– Good luck Joël!

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Erik Karlsson could be a poisoned chalice for Penguins fans

The field hockey world was abuzz yesterday after the huge transaction involving Rem Pitlick Erik Karlsson. When you’re carrying around an $11.5 million contract, it’s not easy to find a new team.

The snag is that, despite a portion of his salary being assumed by the San Jose Sharks, Karlsson still has a hefty $10 million on his new team’s payroll.

To make this kind of move, you have to be absolutely sure. As in 1000% sure!

But since you can never be sure of anything in field hockey, I wonder if Penguins fans have just been served up a poisonous deal by their new president and general manager, Kyle Dubas.

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Let’s imagine for a second that the Erik Karlsson who arrives in the Steel City isn’t the one who scored 101 points last season. Let’s imagine it’s the one from the 2021-2022 season with 35 points. Or the 2020-201 season with 22 points. In his five seasons in California, he’s only lived up to his salary once.

Erik Karlsson will be paid more than Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin and Kristopher Letang. If that doesn’t work out, it’s going to be a long time with his four-year contract.

I guess he didn’t have much choice, in a way. As Michel Laprise of RDS points out, the Penguins only have 4 forwards under the age of 30.

We’re talking about Jake Guentzel at 28, Rem Pitlick at 26 and Drew O’Connord and Alexander Nylander at 25. In other words, Kyle Dubas is on a mission to win now. He doesn’t need Karlsson to perform for four years, he just needs things to click for a season or two.

But even that he can’t guarantee.

I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes the day the network arrives. I really wouldn’t want to explain to the owners that I bet $40 million on a guy who averaged 35 points per season between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 seasons.

Pittsburgh is in for a rude awakening.

Meanwhile, Kent Hughes wonders how he’ll ever get anything in return for Jeff Petry… for a third time.

In Brief

– Lane Hutson continues to perform well.

– The highest paid player in the KHL, that’s him.

– It’s all coming together.

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Canadiens exceed salary cap by more than $5 million

During the off-season, NHL clubs are allowed to exceed the salary cap by 10%. The majority of teams struggling to comply with the salary cap take advantage of this.

This is particularly true of the Habs, who have no choice but to do so. After all, in the summer, the Habs have to consider Carey Price’s contract for another three years.

What’s important to know is that the Flannel must work with the knowledge that Price affects the payroll in the summer. The GM could place him on the long-term injured list for the off-season, but for bonus deferral reasons, he’ll try not to.

So, with yesterday’s transaction (Jeff Petry and Casey DeSmith added to the payroll; Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick left), the CH is over the cap by more than five million dollars.

Once again, it’s not the end of the world. After all, the CH is well aware that Carey Price’s $10.5M will be a game-changer once the season begins.

Remember, the Price family doesn’t even live in Quebec anymore. No, the goalie won’t be playing anymore.

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What’s important to know is that other transactions may change things between now and the start of the season. Injuries may also change things.

But right now, the CH is in a kind of no man’s land. But why?

Because, in reality, the CH has two options: start the season under the salary cap or start it about $10.5 million over it. If the latter, it would give the Habs the opportunity to maximize Price’s cap hit .

And being under would avoid Price’s disadvantages on the LTIR on day #1 of the season. So it’s with the aim of maximizing a contract that’s hard to pass that the CH will decide.

I have a feeling that the decision will be made depending on the state of the mass in a few weeks. If the club has trimmed the fat, sending guys like Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj or Juraj Slafkovsky on paper for 24 hours to be under the mass would make sense.

But if Kent Hughes adds between now and then, getting close to the $10.5 M surplus could make sense.

In bursts

– Good point.

– The CH added to the Erik Karlsson trade at the end.

– Of course.

– Jeff Petry and the CH: it’s complicated, as we said 10 years ago on Facebook.

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Casey DeSmith: an old story of violence against a woman resurfaces

The Canadiens have acquired Casey DeSmith. No word yet on his role with the Habs, but the goaltender is on the club’s payroll right now.

At the time of writing, we can envision a three-way partnership with Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault… but an injury or a transaction could change the picture quickly.

But it’s interesting to get to know him a little better. Why? Because he’s one of the pieces of the deal expected to have the biggest impact on the Habs, and we don’t know him.

We know the goalie, but not the man.

Nathan Légaré is a player who will most likely start the season in Laval, and the second-round pick doesn’t exactly need an introduction, let’s face it. Jeff Petry, who could be leaving, is well known to the locals. No need to introduce him.

But DeSmith is not.

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What you notice when you look at his stats is that the goalie had a good NCAA career, but didn’t play at all in the 2014-2015 season.

Why is that? First of all, you might think that an injury prevented him from playing. It’s a normal reflex when you think of a young university student who doesn’t play for a year.

(Credit: Hockey DB)

But that’s not it.

In fact, just a few weeks into his final year (so late summer 2014), DeSmith was arrested for domestic violence. The goalie was accused of attacking a woman.

DeSmith allegedly jumped on the woman in question before punching her and spitting on her. He also allegedly resisted arrest by police and was intoxicated at the time.

The woman in question was presumably his former girlfriend.

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He was then suspended by his club and learned in December that he would be able to finish his studies, but would not be playing again with his university field hockey club. He applied for a transfer, but was unsuccessful.

He negotiated his sentence after pleading not guilty, and in the end would have had 12 months’ probation to avoid jail time. This would include a small fine and community service. He would also have had counseling to manage his relationship with alcohol.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and the man has undoubtedly evolved, but I wonder how well it will go over, nine years later, in Montreal.

After all, Canadian and American tolerance isn’t always the same for stories like this.

Breaking news

– Something to watch.

– Clearly.

– A whole career.

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Kent Hughes and Jeff Petry have yet to speak to the media

Yesterday, Kent Hughes and the Canadiens acquired Jeff Petry. The latter is back in town for a second stint with the Montreal Canadiens.

But as you know, expect the second stint to be shorter than the first. After all, the Petry family left Montreal after requesting a return to the United States.

Seeing him back in Montreal yesterday came as a surprise to many. But in reality, the defenseman could very well, according to what’s circulating, play his next game somewhere other than Montreal. That’s what many people in the industry think.

And since the club was able to convince the Penguins to retain 25% of the defenseman’s salary (averaging $6.25 million until 2025), Kent Hughes could trade him for 37.5% of his salary while retaining another 37.5%.

No one is going to make me believe that at $2.34M under the cap (and with his $3M bonus paid on July 1st), Petry won’t be in demand. He may have slowed down, but we agree that he’s still a defenseman who can, at the right price, do honest work.

I don’t think that retaining $2.34M over two years for Petry would be a big step backwards for the CH, considering the expected salary cap increase in 2024, the return obtained from the Penguins (and what the CH gave) and what Kent Hughes could receive by trading him.

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Let’s talk about the potential trade.

Normally, when a GM makes a move as part of a major transaction, he’s quick to talk to the media. The same goes for the player in question: he answers the media’s questions.

Nathan Légaré has already given interviews to a number of journalists.

At the time of writing, however, the Habs have yet to schedule a press conference with GM Kent Hughes or Jeff Petry.

I really feel this is a clue that the situation isn’t over. Is it possible to believe that Jeff Petry has no plans with the media here because there’s no point?

Is the CH looking to win a fourth straight deal involving the defenseman?

It would make sense for the Habs not to retain the services of Jeff Petry, a defenseman who wanted to leave and who would block the youngsters in the hierarchy on the right side of the defense.

To be continued.

In gusto

– I did it this morning, Max.

– Coach: yelling doesn’t work anymore. [BPM Sports]

– Speaking of Jeff Petry.

– Hendrix Lapierre is ready. [BPM Sports]

– Remembering Jeff Petry.

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Training camp: with two strikers missing, the U23s can make the club

Yesterday, the Habs decided to trade Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick in a three-team deal. The guys are off to San Jose and Pittsburgh respectively.

In return, only one forward joins the Habs organization – and Nathan Légaré is likely to go to Laval – since otherwise, we’re talking about a defenseman, a goaltender and a pick.

The result? Montreal’s forward congestion looks less imposing this morning.

If the season were to start today, this line-up could be on the Canadiens’ ice. And that’s in a world where Christian Dvorak is healthy to start the season, which is by no means certain.

Caufield – Suzuki – Anderson
Newhook – Dach – Monahan
Slafkovsky – Dvorak – Gallagher
Harvey-Pinard – Evans – Armia
Pezzetta – Ylönen

The good thing is that this doesn’t really change what I see as a potential #1 line-up. I had already raised the possibility of Hoffman being left out for the first game of the season.

Maybe without Dvorak, it would have been different, but hey.

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What about Pitlick? He was possibly destined not to start the season with the Habs, so we’re not exactly talking about a heavy loss on the ice.

But it does free up space on the roster, for example.

If Hoffman and Pitlick are gone, that means we’re down to 14 forwards who, logically, should be starting the season in the NHL. But then again, that takes Dvorak into account.

If he starts the season on the sidelines (and the CH has only two goalies and seven defensemen, the club might have room for a prospect. Whether it’s Sean Farrell, Joshua Roy, Riley Kidney, Lias Andersson, Owen Beck, Emil Heineman or whoever, we can expect a fight.

This is obviously very interesting from the point of view that the club is in the hands of youngsters. Seeing them fight for their place in the sun is bound to be a good thing for the Canadian.

So training camp will be important for a lot of the guys. And with so many youngsters in Laval, it’s going to force them to go the extra mile to earn themselves an encore with the Habs (if need be) along the way.

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And defensively, this will also have an impact. After all, the arrival of Jeff Petry is a game-changer. And while it’s possible that Kent Hughes could trade him again between now and the start of the season, at the time of writing, he’s still in Montreal.

Mike Matheson, Jeff Petry, David Savard, Jordan Harris, Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Johnathan Kovacevic and Chris Wideman will be battling for available positions.

If the Habs traded Joel Edmundson to make room for youngsters, it’s logical to believe that Jeff Petry’s goal is the same. After all, even though he’s right-handed, the defenseman blocks the youngsters.

But he ensures that the defensive top-4 for the 2021 series isn’t completely gone, after all…

So I expect the defenseman to be on his way to the U.S. by the start of the season. But if not, we’ll see how everyone handles it.

After all, the Petry family is causing a stir in Montreal…

Gossip

– Not crazy at all. Kyle Dubas likes to have a Big 4.

– Eh boy.

– Jonathan Marchessault appreciates Quebec’s support. [BPM Sports]

– The Penguins are making room.

– Happy birthday, Jake.

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Casey DeSmith’s arrival: I find it hard to believe in a ménage à trois in front of the net

Yesterday, Kent Hughes took the field hockey world by surprise by getting his hands on Jeff Petry.

Of course, the transaction is broader than that. As part of a three-team deal involving Erik Karlsson, the Habs acquired four players.

As you know, the CH let go Rem Pitlick (Pittsburgh) and Mike Hoffman (San Jose) in return for Petry, Casey DeSmith, Nathan Légaré and an attractive second-round pick in 2025.

Note that Jeff Petry comes to town at only 75% of his salary.

In concrete terms, for the 2023-2024 Canadiens, don’t expect Légaré to play a big role with the club. A good camp and a good start to the season in Laval could change all that, of course.

The second pick in 2025, until proven otherwise, will not be in uniform for the CH in 2023-2024. Obviously, the CH could move the pick between now and then, but for now, that’s not the case.

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What this means is that, right now, only Petry and DeSmith are being added to the Habs’ active roster for next season. In the short term, that’s what it means.

Of course, I say this knowing full well that it’s worth what it’s worth, since the CH is working for the long term. At the moment, the club isn’t trading for the moment.

Quite the contrary, in fact.

In fact, since Jeff Petry could very well be on his way to another team by the end of the off-season, the chances that DeSmith will be the only player in the deal to start the season in Montreal are (relatively) good.

Jeff Petry has not commented on his return to the city. His wife, a model ambassador for a strong, bilingual Montreal, posted photos on Instagram yesterday morning (a little before the deal) about “the surprise of a lifetime” – a family trip to New York.

We don’t all have the same definition of the surprise of a lifetime, do we? After all, when I think of “surprise” and “Petry”, it’s not the family trip to New York that comes to mind.

Anyway. All this to say that if Petry were to leave, Casey DeSmith could be the only player in the deal who would be in Montreal for next season – or early season, at least.

And there are questions about his role.

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Logically, the Habs acquired DeSmith, 31, to play. I don’t see a world in which DeSmith, who will be a free agent at the end of the 2023-2024 season, is in town to make the ballot, for example.

Unless he’s traded too?

That means the Habs currently have four goalies who will theoretically have to start the season in Montreal: Jake Allen, Casey DeSmith, Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau.

Let’s agree on one thing: Primeau is going to the ballot. Barring a surprise (if there’s one club that’s not immune to injury, it’s the Montreal Canadiens), he’s #4 in the pecking order.

But does that mean the CH will go for a ménage à trois in front of the net? Not necessarily, no.

In fact, I find it hard to believe that the Habs are going to go with a three-man front line and have, say, only 13 forwards in town to start the season.

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If that’s the case, it means that the Habs will arrange for one of the three goalies (Montembeault, DeSmith and Allen) to be out of the 23-man roster when camp is over. But which one?

Is there a world in which Jake Allen is traded? Maybe, but I don’t know how much I believe it. It’s late in the summer to be trading such a contract in front of the net in my eyes.

Even if we know it’s happening, a big trade in August. #ErikKarlsson

Is there a world where Jake Allen, who was injured at the end of the season, goes on the injured list at the start of the campaign? If the Maple Leafs did it with Matt Murray, anything’s possible, right?

If not, it has to be through a transaction. Could Samuel Montembeault, who is also at the end of his contract, be the element sacrificed by the Habs before the start of the season?

I can’t say I believe it, but given the lack of data, it’s fair to wonder.

Now that the 2023-2024 contracts have been signed, and the next issue on the GM’s table is Montembeault’s contract (UFA in 2024), is there any world in which negotiations aren’t going as well as expected?

Is there a world in which Samuel Montembeault is too greedy for the Canadiens?

Is there a world in which the Habs are putting pressure on Montembeault via another NHL-calibre goaltender? Is there a world in which Montembeault is being shopped by the Flanelle?

In an ideal world, it wouldn’t be. But in the NHL, negotiations have gone sour before. And while we don’t know why DeSmith is in town, we do have some questions.

In gusts

– Um…

– He’ll be fine in Laval in his house.

– Two goals yesterday. I’m starting to think the guy’s too good.

– Capitals want to help Alex Ovechkin score more than 894 goals. [BPM Sports]

– Well done.

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Juraj Slafkovsky one of the candidates for a breakthrough in 2023-2024

The next race for the Calder Trophy is the talk of the summer, when Connor Bedard could be in contention for Rookie of the Year.

Another less official debate, which doesn’t see a trophy awarded at the end of the season, will also take place next season. It’s the continuation of the Calder, in fact: which second-year(sophomore) player will experience a breakthrough and stand out from the crowd?

BarDown has published a list of a few candidates on social networks, and Juraj Slafkovsky is one of them for the Habs.

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Since Slaf had by far the most difficult first season offensively of any of the above players, he’s naturally the most likely candidate for a breakthrough. With just 10 points in 39 games, it would be surprising if the Slovak didn’t improve over the coming season.

That said, he’s also the least ready of the group, and it would be equally surprising if he were to experience a significant blossoming. As is often said, Slafkovsky is likely to have the opportunity to become an impact player in a few years’ time. He’s still Bambi, as of today and until proven otherwise.

Matty Beniers, once an impact player for the Kraken, is already on track to reach the next level, potentially approaching a point per game. Owen Power, meanwhile, should be a pillar in the Sabres’ anticipated playoff emergence, although his offensive ceiling is questionable.

Wyatt Johnston, Kent Johnson and Mason MacTavish all scored more than 15 goals and 40 points in their first season, all aged 19-20.

In each case, we can establish a possibility of reaching the next level.

Slafkovsky’s next level, however, is where these three players were in 2022-2023.

Don’t bet your house, and temper your expectations… even if he did improve his lung capacity during the off-season.

In a gust

– It just goes to show that you’re never safe from a big trade, even in the middle of summer.

– Marc-André Barriault will be back in the octagon.

– He deserves to have success after the last few difficult years with injuries.

–

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Mike Hoffman says he never played up to his talent in Montreal

Kent Hughes proved once again today that he has more than one trick up his sleeve.

After all, the Habs GM managed to get rid of Mike Hoffman and his contract, which was paying him $4.5 million per season… And he didn’t even have to withhold a portion of his salary to trade him.

Just that, in my opinion, makes the CH a winner. And the cherry on top? Hughes was also able to get an interesting return by trading only Hoffman and Rem Pitlick.

Mike Hoffman will continue his career in San Jose. Poor him, we agree… Because with the Sharks, things are likely to be particularly tough next year and the years to follow.

With just one season remaining on the scorer’s contract, it would be surprising to see him sign a contract extension in San Jose, given that the club is likely to end up in the bottom half of the standings for several more seasons.

Unless the Sharks offer him the moon, I see him leaving in the summer of 2024.

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The former Canadiens 68 wasted no time in introducing himself to his new fans, this afternoon holding a press conference via Zoom. He said what he had to say, and we all agree that it’s often the same tape that rolls when situations like these occur, when we see a player give his first comments following a transaction…

But Hoffman also decided to be frank, admitting that he never played up to his talent in Montreal. He could have taken the easy way out by avoiding the subject, but he talked about it anyway.

I have a lot of respect for players who don’t hesitate to take responsibility when things go wrong. We all agree that Hoffman never really wowed the gallery, even though everyone on the planet knows how much skill he has to be one of the NHL’s good offensive players…

And he knows it, too.

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At least he knows. Because when he signed his three-year contract with the CH in the summer of 2021, Mike Hoffman was expected to come and score goals…

But let’s just say his 29 goals in 134 games with the Habs haven’t lived up to expectations.

Well, Mike Hoffman is leaving, and we’re all pretty happy to see him go, given that he didn’t necessarily fit in with Martin St-Louis’ philosophy, and given that his departure frees up a spot in the CH offensive lineup.

But I seem to see it a little differently. Sure, Hoffman didn’t get the job done during his time in town, but he did add depth to the lineup in the natural scoring department.

It’s a blessing in disguise. Now the CH is left with Caufield as its only “sniper”, and in a league where goals are being scored by the ton these days, that’s something to consider. Already, the CH and scoring goals don’t really fit into the same sentence…

I don’t think we need to worry right away because the Tricolore won’t be competitive for another two or three years. They still have time to get their hands on a guy with a knack for putting it in the back of the net, and if it doesn’t happen this year, it’s not a big deal.

But sooner or later, the CH will have to find another natural scorer. Because, in reality, Caufield won’t be able to support the attack by scoring 80 goals a season for years to come.

I wish that were the case, but hey.

At

– Good point.

– I would have broken everything.

– Well done.

– A nice show of respect for Leylah Fernandez. Especially when it comes from the mouth of Venus Williams!