2023-24 Florida Panthers Divisional Opponent Preview: Montreal Canadiens

Kicking off our preview of the Florida Panthers‘ Atlantic Division opponents this season, we take a look at last season’s last place divisional finishers, the Montreal Canadiens.

2022-23 Record: 31 W | 45 L | 6 OTL | 68 Points (8th in Atlantic)

2022-23 H2H Record: 4-0-0

Scheduled Games

• November 30 @ Montreal Canadiens
• December 30 vs. Montreal Canadiens
• February 29 vs. Montreal Canadiens
• April 2 @ Montreal Canadiens

Key Losses

Jonathan Drouin highlights Montreal’s offseason losses after spending six seasons with the team. First arriving in a high-profile trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017, hopes were high for the Quebec native coming off a 21-goal and 32-assist season. But with time those hopes faded as his production dropped to just 2 goals and 27 assists last year. A free agent this summer, Drouin signed with the Colorado Avalanche.

On defense, Joel Edmundson was traded to the Washington Capitals over the offseason. The 8-year league veteran rode the highs and lows with the team since joining Montreal in 2020, but as a third-pairing minute defender, he was the odd man out to make room for the next group of young defenders Montreal hopes to build around.

Key Additions

Montreal went out and bought a little championship winning pedigree for their roster by sending a first and second-round draft pick to the Avalanche for Alex Newhook. Newhook, 22, joins Montreal with two seasons of experience in Colorado, bringing with him cup-winning experience from the 2022 season. Coming off a 14-goal and 16-assist season, they will hope to see him take the next step with the additional playing time he will be afforded.

The goalie situation still has loose ends in need of being tied up before the season starts after Montreal acquired Casey DeSmith for their role as the middleman in August’s Erik Karlsson trade. But with Jake Allen entrenched as the starter, and the team content with Montembeault as the backup, the thinking has been that DeSmith will be on the move before the start of the season. However, the situation remains unresolved with the start of the season just over a month away and the preseason right around the corner. If DeSmith stays, he has proven to be an effective backup and potential 1B option at times in his tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Line Projections (via Daily Faceoff)

Forwards

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach
Alex Newhook – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson
Juraj Slafkovsky – Jake Evans – Brendan Gallagher
Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Sean Monahan – Joel Armia

Defense

Michael Matheson – David Savard
Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic
Arber Xhekaj – Kaiden Guhle

Goalies

Jake Allen
Sam Montembeault

Verdict: This is still a team in rebuild

Montreal has some pieces, but this team does not resemble the team that surprised many on their way to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

Up front, the first line is a scoring threat whenever they are on the ice. Caufield and Suzuki have been dangerous for the past few seasons now, but Dach’s progression after flatlining in Chicago has given them a true first line to build behind.

Outside of the top line, they lack the high-end depth that makes teams true contenders. Anderson and Dvorak are solid middle-six options. Gallagher used to be as well, but injuries have taken a toll since the 2021 Final. While most contenders have multiple middle-six players that could slide onto the top line if needed, I do not see that with any of these three.

Their defense has some young names with promising futures behind the veteran pairing of Matheson and Savard, but in their current state they are still in the bottom tier of the Atlantic Division defensemen groups.

Given the sheer amount of relatively young players on the roster, there is still the potential that there could be an all-around step forward in development that propels Montreal up the order, but quite frankly there are other teams in the division better prepared to take that step.

Want your voice heard? Join the The Rat Trick team!

Write for us!