The Montreal Canadiens have some tough free agency decisions in 2021

The Montreal Canadiens have some tough decisions to make in 2021.

After failing to make it out of the first round in each of their last five seasons – that is, if they even made it to the playoffs at all – the Montreal Canadiens finally look like a team ready to make a run at Atlantic Division for the first time since their 2012-15 run.

In theory, it makes sense. The Canadiens played pretty darn well in 2020 behind Phillip Danault and Shea Weber and look like the kind of team capable of taking another step towards their ultimate goal of representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Could the Habs shock the world and leapfrog teams like the Flyers, Capitals, Bruins, and reigning champions the Tampa Bay Lightning as soon as this season? I mean, I guess anything is possible, but with an average age of 27 in 2020-21, it’s clear the team could still use a little extra seasoning before they try to punch a little too high out of their weight class.

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That, unfortunately, might be a problem, because the Canadiens’ roster is far from certain moving forward.

As things presently stand, the Canadiens only have 13 players under contract for the 2021-22 season, six forwards, five defensemen, and both of their goaltenders. While things aren’t quite as bad as they would seem, as three more of the team’s players – Artturi Lehkonen, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Victor Mete – are restricted free agents, that still leaves the team with a number of building block players unsure about their futures, with the season’s results very much impacting their financial futures.

Are some of these decisions rather obvious? Sure, I highly doubt a player like Joel Armia or Jordan Weal is going to ask for a seven-year contract in the $8-10 million AAV range, but what about players like Tomas Tatar, and Phillip Danault? Both are over 25 and could demand contracts well over their current AAV of $3-5 million. While the team surely has depth capable of stepping up if either top-line player walks in free agency – players like Tyler Toffoli, Nick Suzuki, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi – is that really the route the team wants to follow in 2021; addition by subtraction?

Furthermore, what if players like Toffoli, Suzuki, and Jesperi really do step up when the season opens up and the Habs opt to go all-in on a monster trade to acquire the missing piece to their homegrown core? If any team can somehow land a player like Patrik Laine without surrendering too many assets, you have to do it, right? Even if it means giving him a long-term contract worth well over $8 million AAV at the expense of retaining depth players.

Alternatively, maybe the Canadiens fall back to earth somewhat in an abbreviated 2020-21 season and they’ll be selling players like Tatar and Danault for 20-year-old AHL players ready to take the leap to the NHL next fall.

Needless to say, this team’s trajectory is going to be fascinating to watch.

When you organically build a team year after year, eventually fans, players, and general managers alike are going to get antsy about pushing things into overdrive. When the Montreal Canadiens made it out of the qualifying round of the weird, bubbled 2020 NHL playoffs and took the Flyers to six games in the first round, it naturally created some excitement and willingness to go all-in on winning now. In a small way, the Habs did just that in 2020 by signing Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Alexander Romanov, and Jake Allen. But in 2021, when roughly a third of the team’s players will hit free agency in some way, things could become even more interesting.