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The Canadiens’ defense now has the potential to be elite when the window opens
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
The Canadiens’ defense now has the potential to be elite when the window opens
Credit: Getty Images
Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton are often patient enough to get what they want.

Obviously, this says a lot about Geoff Molson’s confidence in them. The owner doesn’t put too much pressure on them to turn corners in the rebuild.

But above all, it speaks volumes about the quality of the Canadiens’ management.

The case of Noah Dobson is a good example. No, Dobson didn’t take the discount of the year on his contract, and no, the Islanders didn’t get a bad return on their defenseman.

But in both cases, the HuGo duo didn’t overpay. They did things at their price and waited until Mathieu Darche and Noah Dobson were comfortable at their price.

The result? For Emil Heineman and two first-round picks (now Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson), the Canadiens got their hands on a #1 defenseman who’s offensive, young… and right-handed. This could really be a win-win situation.

And what’s more, after securing his first line for the long term, Kent Hughes has now signed a second long-term defenseman (after Kaiden Guhle), to ensure that when the window opens, it’ll be for good.

In the short term, the Habs defense will be better. Kaiden Guhle, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier will play every night in 2025-2026 if healthy.

Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj, at the time of writing, are the club’s other two defensemen.

And in the long run, the Canadiens have the potential to end up with a more-than-strong top-4. And nothing is far-fetched this morning since the four guys I’m about to name are all under team control for several years.

I see Guhle stabilizing Dobson’s left side for the long term and I see Reinbacher – if he develops well – supporting Hutson.

Guhle – Dobson
Hutson – Reinbacher

And we haven’t even mentioned Alexandre Carrier, still under contract for two years. We didn’t mention Mike Matheson, who has a contract valid for only one more season.

No mention of Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, Logan Mailloux, Adam Engstrom or the others.

They’ve all got elite potential. And it’s all because Noah Dobson saw the culture being built in Montreal and thought he’d like to be part of the dance…

He’ll help the club, but Dobson will also take the pressure off the youngsters. And that’s worth something.


extension

The next step? Getting help up front. We know the GM hasn’t finished his job, and who knows if the club might trade a Mailloux or a Matheson for reinforcements in the offensive top-6.

Jordan Kyrou’s name refuses to die in town…

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