Maxime Comtois unlikely to receive qualifying offer in Anaheim

Even though he’s only 24, Maxime Comtois has had quite an eventful career in the field hockey world so far. From death threats in connection with a missed penalty shot at the CMJ, to a promising start to his career with the Ducks, to more difficult times later on that put him at the heart of trade rumors, let’s just say it’s been a pretty eventful one.

Last year, however, there was a real disconnect between the forward and the Ducks organization. The club wanted to trade him, but demanded the highest price, without even putting him in the showcase. It was really a strange situation.

Clearly, then, it felt like his days in town were numbered. He was a restricted free agent this summer, but the idea of the Ducks not offering him the qualifying offer ($2.445M for one year) had been circulating a bit for a few months.

Kind of like Denis Gurianov in Montreal.

And now, according to Elliotte Friedman, the scenario seems to be coming to fruition. According to what he hears, it’s unlikely that the Ducks will make him this offer before the autonomy market opens.

If they do, he’ll be free as a bird and able to sign with any club as of Saturday.

Let’s not forget that in recent years, his name had circulated quite a bit in Montreal. That said, it was mainly when Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmins were in town. Will Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton also be interested?

Personally, I doubt it. The city’s already pretty congested, and while a change of scenery could be good for Comtois, I don’t know if he’ll be in the best position to try and revive his career under the Montreal spotlight.

I could be wrong, and maybe being closer to home will be attractive to him, but I have my doubts.

At the same time, if the CH isn’t ruling out the idea of bringing Gurianov back to town, it’s because they think there’s room for such a project. Could we abandon the Gurianov project and embark on the Comtois project? Perhaps we could.

Comtois is represented by agent Allain Roy, who also represents Jake Allen, Kaiden Guhle, Jakub Dobes, Chris Wideman and Gianni Fairbrother within the organization. And he will already be negotiating with the CH for Alex Belzile, whom he also represents.

So this will be a file to keep an eye on, but Maxime Comtois’ future doesn’t seem to be in Anaheim. And I don’t think he’s in Montreal either, but you never know….

In gossip

– It’s now a done deal.

**Breaking News** 🚨 📰
I’m told the @NHLFlyers are trading F Kevin Hayes to the @StLouisBlues for the Blues 2024 6th Rd Draft Pick, there could be another component to the deal.@espn @NHL @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey @DKSportsbook #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/SyPz88jq2l

– Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) June 27, 2023

– Interesting.

– We suspected it, but now it’s confirmed.

– Great read.

– Exactly.