Rem Pitlick: the run-off could save him

Montreal’s REM and the Montreal Canadiens’ Rem Pitlick have aspects in common. In both cases, at the very beginning, it was exciting and we thought it was a good thing for Montrealers.

But the more time goes by, the more we realize that it’s still an interesting project, but it has its flaws.

After all, Pitlick has slowed down a lot since his interesting debut with the Canadian. Last year, he wasn’t exactly the club’s most interesting player, and he didn’t give the CH any reason to play her every night.

He’s even been around Laval in his spare time… and it wasn’t to visit the Cosmodome.

This year, once again, there will be some congestion up front. We know that there are more than 12 forwards who deserve to start the year in uniform right now, which will push a lot of youngsters like Sean Farrell and Emil Heineman to start the season in Laval.

Unless…

All this to say that, at the time of writing, there are plenty of forwards who are guaranteed, if healthy, to start the year among the 23 players on the active roster.

Here are a few of them:

• Nick Suzuki
• Cole Caufield
• Brendan Gallagher
• Josh Anderson
• Mike Hoffman
• Christian Dvorak – if healthy, which is not a given
• Joel Armia
• Kirby Dach
• Alex Newhook
• Sean Monahan
• Jake Evans
• Juraj Slafkovsky

This doesn’t mean they’ll all start the season on the ice(Mife Hoffman could start the year in the stands), but if they’re healthy, they’ll be among the 23 men on the active roster.

It’s a line-up that bears a striking resemblance to last year’s.

That leaves four logical candidates for the last two positions (if the CH goes with 14 forwards, which makes sense): Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Rem Pitlick, Michael Pezzetta and Jesse Ylönen.

Of the lot, only RHP doesn’t have to pass the ballot to go to Laval. That could work against him.

We all agree that, in the eyes of many fans, the case is simple: RHP must stay up there, and Michael Pezzetta is undoubtedly the most logical candidate for the 14th forward position.

He brings something different to the rink.

Ylönen makes people pretty indifferent and so does Pitlick. Both guys only have one year on their contract, though, which could encourage the Habs not to send them to the ballot if they don’t want to lose them.

In recent years, we’ve seen that guys with contracts of more than one year are rarely chosen in the lottery. Why is this? Because of the financial flexibility of the small salary cap.

I don’t know if this will be the case again this year, but if Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton feel that it will be, perhaps Michael Pezzetta could take the ballot instead of Pitlick, for example.

Do I believe it? Not necessarily. But what I am saying is that if everyone is healthy, the “ballot” aspect may be what saves Pitlick to start the season in Montreal.

Whether it’s RHP or Pezzetta, maybe the CH will make decisions so as not to lose anyone. And without being mean to him, this may be his best chance of not going through waivers.

Because if we go on merit, he shouldn’t be there.

In bursts

– No word yet on how much action there will be.

– The CH will be releasing money en masse within the next two years. [HF]

– To be continued.

🚨ALERTE SIGNATURE🚨

New Quebec defenseman added to 2023-2024 roster!🔥

Player to be announced today at 3pm!⏰ pic.twitter.com/ieMK5e8Mg0

– Trois-Rivières Lions (@Lions3r) August 1, 2023

– Neymar on the bench for a friendly match. [RDS]

– History.