Habs Mailbag: Canadiens’ Juraj Slafkovsky should keep gloves on
I loved the way Juraj Slafkovsky didn’t back down from Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel in Game 2 and showed that the Lightning wasn’t going to intimidate him. I didn’t like the way the fight ended, but good for Slafkovsky. I believe we could use one more player like him on the second line. I know it would be hard to find, but don’t you think that, too?
Sheri Taylor
I admire Slafkovsky for showing he wasn’t intimidated and having the courage to drop the gloves with Hagel. But I don’t think Slafkovsky should be fighting — especially not someone like Hagel — because he’s not very good at it. The Canadiens also need Slafkovsky on the ice and not in the penalty box for five minutes.
Hagel, who at 6-foot-2 and 186 pounds is an inch shorter and 39 pounds lighter than Slafkovsky, must have known Slafkovsky wasn’t a good fighter when he challenged him. Hagel ended up catching Slafkovsky with a right hand to the chin that dropped him. Slafkovsky did get right back up, but was lucky he wasn’t hurt badly.
According to HockeyFights.com, Slafkovsky has had four fights in the NHL, including pre-season. Hagel has fought 17 times in the NHL and with Team Canada he dropped the gloves with Team USA’s Matthew Tkachuk right off the opening faceoff at a 4 Nations Face-Off game last year at the Bell Centre.
Hagel liked his chances when he dropped the gloves with the much bigger Slafkovsky and then got great pleasure taunting him in the penalty box.
To answer the second part of your question, the Canadiens could definitely use another big-body player like Slafkovsky on the second line.
I just read a question in a recent Habs Mailbag about “Beefcake” Tom Wilson possibly joining the Canadiens. I think Wilson is a horror show and should never be allowed on the Habs. Regarding big men on the team, we already have what Wilson brings in Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, Kirby Dach, David Reinbacher and Josh Anderson. Why look for anyone else?
Dick Labete
I think any team in the NHL would want to have Wilson — including the Canadiens. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound winger has had back-to-back seasons with at least 30 goals and 100 penalty minutes with the Washington Capitals and his 179 hits this season were one more than Xhekaj, who led the Canadiens with 178.
Wilson can also fight — something most 30-goal scorers can’t do. He is a physically intimidating player — especially in the playoffs as the Canadiens found out last season when they lost to the Capitals in five games. Wilson had 2-3-5 totals and 14 penalty minutes in those five playoff games, along with 19 hits.
Wilson would certainly look good on the Canadiens’ second line, but I would be surprised if the Capitals wanted to trade the 32-year-old who has five more seasons left on his contract with a US$6.5 million salary-cap hit.
There aren’t many players like him.
I’d love to know when is Kent Hughes actually going to bring in a couple of big-body veteran NHLers who play with actual sandpaper — like Josh Anderson — instead of constantly trading for, signing and drafting undersized, soft players like Alex Newhook, Alexandre Texier and Oliver Kapanen?
Deke Rivers on X — @OLearyO
I’m sure Hughes will be looking to add size and sandpaper to the Canadiens during the off-season.
The GM tried to do that at the NHL trade deadline this season, but the prices were too high at the time. Hughes said he had been working on “a significant deal” that fell through just before the 3 p.m. trade deadline on March 6.
Hughes later told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: “Don’t misinterpret the lack of results (at the trade deadline) as a lack of interest in doing anything and just being completely focused on the future and not the present. It’s on me for not being able to get something done. At the end of the day, it’s a results-oriented business. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.”
Hughes will try again this summer.
What trade do you see the Habs making before next season?
Sid Berman
At this point, it seems pretty obvious that Samuel Montembeault will get traded this summer.
The 29-year-old goalie hasn’t played a game since March 6 after being replaced by Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler and has one more season remaining on his contract with a very reasonable US$3.15 million salary-cap hit. Several NHL teams have had goaltending problems this season and I don’t think it will be hard for Hughes to trade Montembeault after one bad season.
The question will be whether Hughes makes a one-for-one trade with Montembeault or whether he makes the goalie part of a package in a trade.
Defenceman Arber Xhekaj can become a restricted free agent on July 1 and other NHL teams would definitely have interest in the rugged 25-year-old defenceman who might not have a spot on the blue line next season with David Reinbacher likely to make the jump from the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
The Canadiens also have several young prospects — including Michael Hage and Reinbacher — that other teams would have interest in as well as first- and second-round picks at the next three NHL drafts. That doesn’t mean Hughes would necessarily trade those young prospects, but he could definitely put together an impressive package to find a proven, top-six forward with size.
Seeing as how Michael Hage is not coming up next year and will stay at the University of Michigan, do you see the Habs looking to acquire someone in the off-season to play centre alongside Ivan Demidov?
Ty Goo on X — @TylerMGoo
The fact Hage has decided to go back to Michigan shows he doesn’t think he’s ready to play in the NHL next season and the Canadiens probably don’t, either.
So, yes, I do believe Hughes will be looking for a proven second-line centre. As noted above, maybe Hage is even part of the package to accomplish that.
We will see.
We keep hearing about Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky and Bryce Pickford these days, but little on those prospects that have been with the Laval Rocket for a bit — Joshua Roy, Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj, among others. Can you update us on where you think those players sit in the organization’s plans?
Andrew Nadeau
Hage, Zharovsky and Pickford were all selected at the last two NHL drafts, so their potential and whether they can play in the NHL remains uncertain, which is why they are talked about more often.
Roy, Beck and Xhekaj have all had a taste of the NHL and the clock is running out on the first two as far as earning a regular spot with the Canadiens. Roy, 22, was drafted five years ago and Beck, also 22, was drafted four years ago. They have both been passed on the depth chart by Zachary Bolduc, 23, Oliver Kapanen, 22, Ivan Demidov, 20, and even 26-year-old Joe Veleno.
At this point, the 21-year-old Xhekaj looks to have a better chance of earning a spot with the Canadiens in the future than Roy or Beck because of his size (6-foot-3, 195 pounds) and physicality.
Roy can become a restricted free agent this summer, while Beck has one more season left on a contract that pays him US$853,333 with the Canadiens and US$82,500 with the Rocket, after which he can become a restricted free agent.
Help me out here. After watching Joe Veleno play for a season with the Canadiens, how on Earth was he granted exceptional-player status in junior hockey to play as a 15-year old with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs? I don’t see anything he does to be exceptional — except maybe missing the net.
Joe LaRussa
Just because a player is “exceptional” as a 15-year-old doesn’t guarantee he will be a star in the NHL.
Veleno was exceptional during his final season of junior hockey with the Drummondville Voltigeurs as an 18-year-old in 2018-19, posting 42-62-104 totals in 59 games with the Drummondville Voltigeurs after being selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round (30th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Only nine players have ever been granted exceptional-player status in the CHL: John Tavares (2005), Aaron Ekblad (2011), Connor McDavid (2012), Sean Day (2013), Veleno (2015), Shane Wright (2019), Connor Bedard (2020), Michael Misa (2022) and Landon DuPont (2024).
Tavares, Ekblad, McDavid and Bedard have all become stars in the NHL, but Day only played two games in the NHL after being selected by the New York Rangers in the third round (81st overall) at the 2016 NHL Draft. This season the 28-year-old defenceman is with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders after spending the previous season in the Swedish Hockey League. Day has 3-14-17 totals in 61 games this season with the Islanders.
Wright, 22, had 12-15-27 totals in 74 games this season with the Seattle Kraken, who selected him fourth overall at the 2022 NHL Draft.
Misa was selected by San Jose with the second overall pick at last year’s NHL Draft and the 19-year-old centre had 9-12-21 totals in 45 games this season with the Sharks. DuPont, a defenceman, had 18-55-73 totals in 63 games this season with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips.
Veleno’s story just highlights how difficult it is to not only make the NHL — but to stay there.
Why isn’t Patrik Laine being considered to play for the Canadiens during the playoffs? He is healthy and putting in ice time to practise with and without the team. He is a generational goal-scorer that could really benefit the team and bring that scoring threat on each shift.
@TesomanTykki92 on X
While Laine has been practising with the Canadiens in a full-contact sweater for more than two months after recovering from surgery for a core muscle injury, he hasn’t played a game since Oct. 16.
The Canadiens don’t really have a spot for Laine in the lineup and they aren’t going to throw him into a playoff game when he hasn’t played in six months. In the five games Laine did play this season he had only one assist and was minus-3.
Laine did score 44 goals with the Winnipeg Jets in 2017-18 and added 30 the next season, but he hasn’t hit the 30-goal mark since while dealing with physical injuries and mental-health issues. He scored 20 goals in 52 games with the Canadiens last season, but 15 of them came on the power play and he was minus-14.
The Canadiens’ power play ranked 10th in the NHL this season with a 23.1 per cent success rate without Laine. Last season, with Laine, they ranked 21st on the power play with a 20.1 per cent success rate. The Canadiens don’t really need Laine now.
Laine can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and the 28-year-old will be looking for a new team.
If you have a question you’d like to ask for the weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to montrealcanadiens@postmedia.com
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