The Canadiens were very interested in Claude Giroux last summer

Michaël Petit
The Canadiens were very interested in Claude Giroux last summer
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

Even though all Montreal Canadiens fans are disappointed with how the team fared in the conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, you can't say the Habs didn't impress this season.

Clearly, the team isn't perfect; it's still very young and therefore very inexperienced.

They lack a true second-line center (we can all agree that Jake Evans doesn't fit the profile of a second-line center), at least one experienced defenseman (ideally a right-handed, big-bodied player), and more grit.

Despite that, the Habs beat two of the toughest teams in the playoffs in the first two rounds, and the Hurricanes were simply too strong.

In short, it will be interesting to see what Kent Hughes has in store for his fans this summer.

The priority, in my opinion? A second-line center. Even though Michael Hage is a promising prospect, he won't be ready until the 2027–28 season—and possibly later.

However, according to what Bruce Garrioch reported in an article published in the Ottawa Citizen, the Habs were very interested in signing Claude Giroux last summer.

Giroux would certainly have been a huge help to the Montreal club this season, but the player himself ultimately decided to sign on for another season in Ottawa.

Even though he's now 38, Giroux has a wealth of experience under his belt and is excellent at the faceoff circle. Plus, he's still capable of racking up over 45 points in a season.

In his career, he has never posted a faceoff percentage below 57.9%, and this year he had the best season of his life with a 63.1% success rate.

Oliver Kapanen had a rookie season that far exceeded expectations with 22 goals, but let's be realistic—he's not a second-line center (at least not yet). We saw it toward the end of the season and in the playoffs: he couldn't recapture the form he had in the first half of the season.

With Nick Suzuki, Claude Giroux, Jake Evans, and Oliver Kapanen at center (not to mention Phillip Danault, who was acquired during the season), the Habs would certainly have been in a better position.

Will the Habs have to look at the Ontario native again? He shouldn't command a high salary, and we can expect a similar annual salary ($2 million per season), according to Bruce Garrioch.


In a nutshell

– I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with Auston Matthews.

– 16 of the 21 players on the Golden Knights' roster were acquired via trade.

– The power of hockey.

– Congratulations to PSG.

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