Dach, Newhook and company: let’s put an end to small projects and find some certainties

Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton met the Montreal sports media this morning at the Bell Centre. The players last Friday… the management this morning… we’ve now turned the page completely on the 2024-25 season. Now it’s time for the summer of 2025, and the 2025-26 season to follow.

But above all, we’ve got several months of golf ahead of us!

We’re all wondering what the Canadiens’ line-up will look like in October, but before we think about what will be added (talent, character, toughness and so on), we must first think about what will be subtracted. It works the same way.

Jeff Gorton – who was in very good spirits, by the way – and Kent Hughes gave us a few clues, even if we’ll have to wait a little longer before knowing some of the details of management’s summer plan.

But this morning, we learned that..

1. No decision has yet been made regarding the future of Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia and Michael Pezzetta, all of whom are eligible for unrestricted autonomy this summer. Since Kent Hughes spoke of future autonomous players when discussing these three guys, we can also assume that Cayden Primeau(RFA) is also one of the players whose door is not closed in Montreal. At least not officially..

Except that, in order to improve the team, you have to let a few pieces go to make room for construction. There are certainly some who will have to leave Montreal.

2. Alex Newhook disappointed himself offensively this season. It’s true that 26 points in 82 games for a guy who plays with offensive players is pretty disappointing.

Newhook expected more from himself in terms of production, and he also expects more from himself for next season.

Kent Hughes pointed out that, much like Cole Caufield the year before, Newhook has improved his defensive game, which may have had a negative impact on his offensive production. Hmm…

The problem is that Newhook finished the regular season with a minus-21 differential, then the playoffs with a minus-3 differential. Has he really improved without the puck?

Kent and Jeff didn’t say it, but I’ll write it here: Newhook’s season was a disaster.

3. Kirby Dach has had two very difficult years, both physically and mentally. He has suffered two major injuries that have not allowed him to assert himself athletically.

Yes, management admits that there will certainly be a place for him in the line-up this autumn, but it will be up to Kirby Dach to tell us what it is.

“We’ll see how he responds to his rehab over the summer.” –Kent Hughes or Jeff Gorton, I can’t quite remember..

Kirby Dach had a hard time coming back from his first knee operation, especially with his skating stroke; he won’t be able to afford as much next campaign.

He’ll need a full camp, and that’s what Jeff Gorton believes will dictate what happens next for him.

Where will he start the season?

My two-cent analysis confirms with almost certainty that it won’t be at the center of the second trio. Why not? Because Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes will be preparing their second trio over the summer, and the answers they get at camp (from Kirby Dach) will come too late.

In short, I think the second-center position will be filled by then.

The problem with Dach is that he’s only scored 22 points, and he’s regressed when we’d hoped to see him progress. A far cry from the center who was supposed to challenge Nick Suzuki on the first line..

Like Newhook, Dach also has problems defensively. He loses face-offs and finished the campaign with a minus-29 differential, one of the worst in the entire Bettman circuit.

The 2025-26 season, the last of his four-year contract signed after his acquisition, will be a mental and physical challenge. He knows it, we know it, management knows it..

My call: when they meet this summer, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton will place Kirby Dach on the wing of one of the last two trios, hoping he’ll be able to at least occupy that chair in October. But they won’t be making any major plans with him.

No more plans please
Dach… Newhook… I think that’s two pieces of evidence that Gorton and Hughes need to try something other than projects to improve the team this summer. Let them leave that to the Saputos, the inexpensive projects (which rarely work)..

The Canadiens need more certainty now. Talent, character, size..

Please don’t trade one of our two first-round picks for a youngster who won’t blossom elsewhere! Repeating the same mistakes over and over is a sign of insanity, according to Albert Einstein.

Where could the much-needed help come from?

To hear Jeff Gorton tell it, there could be more hostile offers across the league this summer. Why would that be? Because it worked with the Blues (Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg) and the salary cap is going up. #CopyCatLeague

Before last summer, the last hostile offers were for Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Sebastian Aho, you know.

Extension

– I wish at least one of the forty journalists on hand had asked a question about Arber Xhekaj. But hey…

– We still don’t know if Emil Heineman, Jayden Struble, Jakub Dobes, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Sean Farrell, Xavier Simoneau, William Trudeau, Gustav Lindstrom, Noel Hoefenmayer and Cayden Primeau will receive a qualifying offer.

– The guy utters a five- or six-word sentence, and everyone goes nuts. It doesn’t take much.

Jeff Gorton… en français s.v.p.! pic.twitter.com/kvLyKUuZIJ

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) May 5, 2025