Denis Gurianov and Joël Teasdale did not receive a qualifying offer

Kent Hughes submitted a qualifying offer to six players today.

We’re talking about Alex Newhook, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylönen, Lucas Condotta, Mitchell Stephens and Nicolas Beaudin.

This means that Denis Gurianov and Joël Teasdale have not received an offer from the CH. The result?

Both players will have to test the free agent market, which opens tomorrow, July 1.

Not surprising for Gurianov.

After all, to retain the services of the forward acquired at the last trade deadline, the Canadiens would have had to submit a qualifying offer of $2.9 million…

And the Russian didn’t necessarily prove during his time in Montreal that he deserved that chance. The risk was minimal, remember, when the Habs parted with Evgenii Dadonov to acquire him.

It’s more of a shame for Joël Teasdale. The Quebecer has been greatly affected by injuries in recent years, and even if the CH were to grant him a qualifying offer of $787,500 to keep him, the organization decided to turn the page.

At least, the Repentigny native will have had the opportunity to play two games with the Flanelle this year.

The question now is what lies ahead for the two main players. In reality, the chances of Gurianov coming back to town aren’t zero. There is a world in which Kent Hughes decides to bring him back next year… But it will be at a lower salary.

The story is different for Teasdale. His injury history could come back to haunt him in his search for a new contract, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for him.

If he can’t come to terms with an NHL team, Europe could be a great option for him. And frankly, I wish him all the best, given that he never stopped working his butt off for the organization, even after his injury.

He deserves the chance to prove himself elsewhere. Especially after the great season (23 goals and 38 points in 58 games) he had with Laval in 2022-2023.

As for Condotta, Ylönen, Beaudin and Stephens… It’s a nice vote of confidence from the organization. After all, we knew the CH was going to make an offer to Newhook and RHP.

Extension

Remember that today is the deadline for buying back contracts in the NHL… and that the CH hasn’t bought back any.

We discussed the possibility of Mike Hoffman, Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher’s contracts being bought out by the team…

And in the end, they won’t be.