By all accounts, the Montreal Canadiens’ rebuild is coming along nicely.
Since President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes started running the show, the Habs have assembled one of the NHL’s best prospect pools, along with a plethora of draft capital, all the while transforming an ‘old-school’ organization into a more progressive and robust operation off the ice. And while they missed the playoffs by a country mile, Montreal’s core talent took huge steps forward this year.
Montreal’s young captain Nick Suzuki (24) played at a Selke level and registered 77 points in 82 games. Cole Caufield (23) set career highs in goals with 28 and points with 65. And thanks to an eye-opening second-half surge, 2022 No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky racked up 50 points as a sophomore. And that’s not even accounting for how good David Reinbacher and Lane Hutson — their two best prospects — were in their respective leagues.
