It has been a busy week for Montreal Canadians. They were in the middle of a demanding schedule, including a trip through Florida, and Kent Hughes attended his first General Manager (GM) meeting. With the trade deadline expiring and Hughes passing that first test, the team is now looking forward to their many decisions regarding the offseason and player movement and the NHL Draft. There’s some hockey left to play first, and last week’s news.
Canadian Cofield won the best rookie of the month
Cole Cofield has been crying incredibly since Martin took over as head coach of St. Louis. Cofield has only eight points in his first 30 games, but in the last 15 games he has scored 15 goals with seven goals. Since being behind the St. Louis bench, Cowfield has scored 25 points in 23 games and is back in the rookie scoring race; While he may not catch the leaders, he is certainly proving that the hype said he would. Coffield became the first Canadian rookie to win the best rookie of the month since Kerry Price in March 2008.
Coffield had a disastrous start to the season and was even sent to the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Laval rocket. However, since the new head coach St.-Louis took over, Cofield has been on fire, scoring 14 goals and 26 points in 23 games, keeping him on track for 22 goals and 49 points. His 15 points from 15 games in March was the highest in a single month for a Canadian rookie because Michael Ryder had 16 in 2004. Coffield teammate Rem Pitlik was the runner-up for the honor with 11 points from 15 games.
Canadians can trade Carrie Price
Canadian goaltender Kerry Price is recovering from knee surgery and a hip injury. He has come close to returning to the Hubs in recent weeks and could get one or two games before the end of the season. If Price recovers, Canadian management may want to keep him but may release him from cap space by removing all or part of Price’s 10.5 million contract. Price has stated his intention to remain in Montreal, and Hughes made no mention of moving him, but the offseason could be different.
Moving prices may not be easy – there is a no-move clause (NMC) in his contract and Canadians must approve any deal they want to make. If he stays healthy and gets some play this season, it will depend on where Hughes and Hobbes go next season. They have said in past interviews that they want to be involved with this year’s free agents and do what they can to improve the club. In that case, it is better to leave Price where he is. If the team wants to rebuild and start dumping contracts for cap space, a price move is inevitable. No matter what happens this offseason, it will be interesting to see who will be involved in the price deal, and if Price wants to play for any team, he is at the age where he wants to be a competitor and most of those teams don’t have cap space for him.
Canadians are taking their time with Mailox
During a recent GM meeting, Hughes sat down and interviewed several people, and in one of them, last year’s controversial draft was picked. Mailloux was ranked 31st in the 2021 draft by former GM Mark Bergevin and his assistant GM Trevor Timmins. Pickie Habs has divided fans and the media because of the Melox controversy. Due to an offensive photo distribution and defamation suit in Sweden, Mailloux asked not to draft, but Habs chose him anyway. Upon his return to Canada, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) suspended Mailox for half a season; He returned in January and scored nine points in 12 games before ending the season with a shoulder injury.
Related: Top 5 Defensive Possibilities of Canadians
Hughes says it is not the development or potential of Mailloux that they are concerned about but how he develops as an individual. Since he returned from Sweden, Mailloux has been taking training lessons and seeing psychologists. Hughes will not sign a contract with Mailloux until he and members of the organization are satisfied with his progress. A task force was set up to deal with the Mailloux situation, led by Genevieve Pacquette, vice president of community engagement, Margaret Belanzer, CH president of Sports and Entertainment France, and Chantelle Machabi, vice president of communications. Once everyone involved is satisfied with his progress, Hughes will move forward with young potential.
Canadian Sign Prospects
Last week, the Canadians signed one of their top defensive prospects, Jordan Harris, then this week they signed two more. First was the Eumas-Lowell River Hawks forward Lucas Condota. The 6’2 ″ 208-pound conductor had 52 points from 121 games in four seasons with River Hawks; He has signed a one-year entry-level agreement (ELC) starting in 2022-23 and will sign a professional tryout (PTO) with Laval Rockets to end the season.
Habs has signed Emil Heinmann to a three-year ELC, which will begin in 2022-23. Tyler Toffoli’s contract with the Calgary Flames gave the Canadians a chance at Heinemann, and the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) has 11 goals and 16 points in 38 games with Lakesands IF. He will sign a PTO with Laval to end the season.
In other news, Jonathan Druin is in New York to get a second opinion on his injured wrist to see if he can avoid surgery, and Hughes made a promise to his Boston Junior Eagles AAA U16 team that they would qualify for the Chipotle U16 tournament. Detroit, he will be back and will coach them for the last time. Prior to naming Canadians as the 18th GM, he coached the team for four seasons; He was replaced by Hall of Famer Brian Leach when he was appointed by Habs.
Trez Wilson has been a freelance content writer for the past four years and with THW for the past year. She co-hosts the popular Montreal Canadian podcast Habs Unfiltered on iHeartRadio.com. Treez is passionate about Canadians and loves to provide his readers with great quality news, rumors and opinions about Montreal Canadians. Trege has also featured JblamSports and JDFSports podcasts; For interviews and guest appearances, you can contact her on any of her social media accounts listed below her photos in such articles.
