With the departure of Marc Bergevin and the arrival of the Hughes-Gorton duo (Hugo), there is an undeniably positive story about the Canadiens' supposed rebuilding.
I know, I am an active participant in this narrative, as are 100% of the other commentators and analysts of every move the Canadiens make!
Good times are multiplying
– Lots of tricky deals
– Several excellent drafts: Slafkovsky, Hutson, Fowler, Demidov, Hage, Zharovsky and others;
– Lots of contracts that will get old;
– Etc.
We won't go into detail about all these success stories, which have already been covered and analyzed from all angles.
Jasons from less successful throws
However, four years after Bergevin's departure, we also see that some of Hugo's small mistakes have already had a certain impact on the restructuring.
This is to be expected. No director has a perfect average.
So, for the sake of objectivity and to counter the endlessly positive “official” recovery narrative, let’s first take inventory of the least good steps that we can already begin to list with a reasonable degree of certainty, namely the 2022 steps.
1. Trade Artturi Lehkonen
Of course, Lehkonen, modest2nd round Picked in 2013, he had a less than stellar career with the Canadiens before being traded to the Avalanche in March 2022 (149 points in 396 games).
He also never had the opportunity to play with Nathan MacKinnon.
A third-line player, a man-down specialist who was often criticized for missing too many scoring chances, his departure was not long mourned. At best, his legendary winning goal on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day against Las Vegas was remembered with nostalgia.
It appears that the Bergevin and Hughes-Gorton administrations failed to realize just how good a hockey player they had on hand. And he's even better in the playoffs!
I watched him last night in the first game against the Kings, Wow! What a strong and smart player!
AVSF62 Arturri Lehkonen took body and stick position on Net Front D and scored. Did his job and played with purpose to win the stick on goal. Playoff type goal deep in the ice. #TLPFBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/stEVze7qB1
– Think less, play faster Total Hockey
(@TLPF_Hockey) October 8, 2025
Unfortunately, Barron's development did not go as planned.
Fortunately, the error was corrected with the acquisition of Carrier.
But we have to admit that we didn't realize Lehkonen's full value or bet on the wrong horse when we traded him.
Sakic's understanding of the intricacies of Lehkonen's game trumped Canadiens' thinkers about Barron's potential.
2. Trading Romanov, acquiring Kirby Dach and selecting Nazar to Chicago
Minutes after selecting forward Slafkowski over centers Wright and Cooley, Hugo looked to make another big splash at the Bell Center by trading Romanov and acquiring Kirby Dach, a 6-foot-3, over 200-pound young center.
Romanov got off to a great start with the Canadiens and was already arguably the team's best defenseman when he was traded in the 2022 draft.
No matter. Theoretically, trading Romanov, 38th place player drafted in 2018 13th And 66th place choosing 2022 and using it 13th decided to buy Dakh,3rd the 2019 overall pick was very good game.
On the left flank of the defense, Goulet, Struble and Czekai were well taken care of, all strong guys, at least one of whom could become as good as Romanov. We could sacrifice a Russian bowling ball to get a potentially quality second center or even a first, who knows…
Lamoriello and the Islanders knew agent Dan Milstein was right in 2018 when he said his client deserved to be a top-10 pick. We clearly understood Romanov's value as something undoubted, no matter what happened to this famous 13th The Habs' pick fell to the Hawks a few minutes later.
Alexander Romanov received a congratulatory video. Looked emotional on the bench. pic.twitter.com/eFvyJcYa6G
– Arpon Basu (@arponbasu) February 11, 2023
To this day, almost 25 years old, we still don't know if he can come close to the player Hugo had in mind in the summer of 2022 and whom we have seen so little of since his arrival in town.
Meanwhile, Goulet plays slightly more games than Dach, Struble and Czekai in rotation as the sixth defenseman, and Romanov has 221 games in New York, plus a differential of plus 41…
Meanwhile, Frank Nazar, ultimately chosen 13th Overall, he is on track to become a star NHL center. Watch him play against the Habs, he's a real hockey player!
Frank Nazar (CHI91) hit the big time in his first game since signing his 7x$6.6 million extension, scoring a goal and his first assist in the Hawks' 3-2 loss to FLA.
Here are his most notable plays and touches on the puck last night. #Blackhawks #NHLPotN pic.twitter.com/b7itIP3zoo– JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 8, 2025
In short, we're not there yet, but does anyone else have more confidence that Dach will have a great career in Montreal?
At the moment, Kapanen, selected by Timmins-Bergevin, is superior expectationsand his subtle qualities – speed, shooting, intelligence and vision – were undoubtedly underestimated. du If Dah doesn't get back on track, will he be able to fix this hole in Hugo's recovery plan? Let's reserve judgment for now… 3. The choice of Philip Mesar 26th in 2022
The more time passes, the more it seems our initial hypothesis is correctthose. that the Habs created Mesar mainly to please their friend Slafkovsky, at the expense of Jiri Kulic.
Of course, on 26ththere are more chances to make mistakes than in the top 15.
Of course, the Habs seem to have bounced back well thanks to the unthinkable selection of Lane Hutson on 62nd and, to a lesser extent, Beck's 33rdRohrer in 75th place and Engstrom on 92nd.
This compensates…
But Kulich (28th ), the man with the fiery shot, already CLEARLY better at that time, was in the same “hunting ground” as Mesar in Europe.
What a shot of Jiri Kulic pic.twitter.com/NPc3wSh2Hy
– The Saber Report (@TheSabreReport) March 28, 2025
And we think his talent surpasses Kapanen and Dach…
Conclusion
Ultimately, replacing Lehkonen with Barron, now Carrier, an effective right-handed third-pairing defenseman around Lehkonen's age, isn't really that big of a “mistake.” But this cannot be said to represent long-term progress, which is the goal of any recovery.
Then, in retrospect, and somewhat ironically, it was Kirby Dach's multiple injuries that benefited the Habs' rebuild. If Dach had not been injured throughout the 2023-2024 season, Hugo likely would not have had the opportunity to draft Ivan Demidov at No.. 5!
Finally, the “final-final” verdict on the choice of Mesar has not yet been made. But despite the encouraging signs at the last training camp, the Slovak’s performance still remains in the red. Which is definitely not the case for the 6'1, 193 pound lefty Kulich, who was moved to second line center in Buffalo! Well, well, well!
But overall, in the big picture, these 2022 “little mistakes” are not dramatic and, ironically, some of them may have even been beneficial for early 2023 and 2024 drafts…
At the same time, Kapanen or not, no one will refuse Nazar or Kulich in the center of the second line today!
And not Slough error?”
We hear this more and more often! In my opinion, Cooley may be emerging as an offensive star in the NHL and Wright may be showing promising signs, but I still don't buy that Slafkovskiy might have been a “mistake” at first. It would take a disaster to change your mind.
Aside from the fact that he's off to a strong start in his career and continues to develop like most big players his age, is his usefulness among Montreal's plethora of small forwards really up for debate? Imagine the average size of the first two Hub trios in his absence! At 21, few NHL players are as good as he at making life easier for his teammates and winning one-on-one battles in front of the net. Proof:
The game of the “power playmaker” Slafkovsky really breaks through. No other 18-20 year old teen ranked in the 90+ percentile on our contact play metric. His ability to generate offense down zone is excellent.
https://t.co/TBUOI0kOpq https://t.co/gpKHZRR908 pic.twitter.com/3WmIWnwYAt
– Louis Boulet (@Louis_Boulet_) October 7, 2025
Without him, the Caufield-Suzuki duo really isn't as effective. Together the guys make up 4th best 5v5 line in the NHL! All that remained was for Slafkovsky to score a few more goals into the net. Otherwise, his game is really solid and useful for the team. In my opinion he is still best choice The Habs could take first place.Next! What about 2023?Now let's hope David Reinbacher's pick no.. 5 it wouldn't be a big mistake to rebuild the House in 2023. If so, it may be more difficult to fix than say,acquisition of Dach and selection of Mesar
Now this is a big taboo…
