The Montreal Canadiens should be picking in the top five in this summer’s draft. If they can get an elite draft pick, they will be one step closer to contending for a playoff spot, especially if they can stay healthy. For the second straight season, they will break the man-games lost record with over 700 man-games lost; if they were relatively healthy, this club could have finished closer to a playoff spot, which at this point in the rebuild would have been disastrous for the future. An enormous hole the Habs will have going forward is their goaltending, with Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault as their current goaltending pair.
Allen is signed for the next two seasons, and Montembeault will be in the last year of his contract next season. If the Canadiens want to jump-start their rebuild, they should look to upgrade their goaltending as early as next season; then, they can move either Allen or Montembeault for more assets. Here is a look at three young goaltenders they could target this offseason.
Jeremy Swayman
Jeremy Swayman is the backup goaltender for the Boston Bruins, playing behind Vezina candidate Linus Ullmark. He is in his second full season with the Bruins, was a member of the All-Rookie Team and finished fifth in the Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year in his first season, winning 23 of 49 games with a .914 save percentage (SV%). This season he is still excelling in the Boston net, winning 21 of 33 games with a .919 SV% so far. Swayman is one of the top young goaltenders in the league at only 24 years of age and could speed up the rebuild for the Canadiens.
The biggest issue with Swayman is that he is a restricted free agent (RFA) at the end of the season. This means that the Canadiens would either have to trade for his rights and then sign him or offer sheet him and hope he signs and the Bruins do not match. With Ullmark signed for only two more seasons and their goaltending tandem arguably being the best in the NHL, Boston would likely not want to move him. Although Swayman would be a massive addition to the Habs, they probably can’t afford to trade for or offer sheet him. They could at least look into acquiring him, but the odds are he would not be available or affordable.
Thatcher Demko
Thatcher Demko was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the 2014 Draft. He previously played for Boston College of the NCAA, with 62 wins in 98 games and .928 SV%. He joined the Canucks in the NHL in 2018-19, playing nine games with a .913 SV%, but it wasn’t until the 2020 Playoffs that he supplanted Vancouver’s starter Jacob Markstrom and took the number one job. Taking over for Markstrom in the playoffs, he won two of three games and sported a .985 SV%, leading to Vancouver not re-signing Markstrom in the offseason and giving the net to Demko. This season, however, he has been held to only 29 games and struggled with a .894 SV%, leading Canucks management to think about moving his $5 million contract.
Related: Canucks Should Shut Down Demko for the Rest of the Season
Canadiens general manager (GM) Kent Hughes has close ties to Boston College and knows Demko well. He would have to find a way to fit his $5 million annual average value (AAV) into Montreal’s cap space, but getting a top-calibre goaltender like Demko could be worth it. While he has struggled this season, injuries are a huge reason; an entire summer off to rest and rehab could have him back in shape by the start of next season. The Canucks are in a bit of a strange spot where they need to figure out whether they are rebuilding or close to competing for the playoffs, and it seems like they are leaning toward the rebuild stage, and taking Demko’s AAV off the books would help in that regard.
Carter Hart
Carter Hart was touted as the next Carey Price when he was first drafted into the NHL by the Philadelphia Flyers. A standout in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Everett Silvertips, he won the top goaltender of the WHL three seasons in a row and the top goaltender of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) twice. He also helped lead Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship (WJC), winning eight of ten games, a silver in 2016-17, and a gold in 2017-18. Since joining the Flyers, Hart has not been as dominant: he won 40 of his first 74 games but has struggled since the 2020-21 season. His struggles could result from Philly not being a good team the last few years, but he was supposed to be the guy the team could build around, and he is showing that he might not be as good as the Flyers had hoped.
Hart is two seasons away from being an RFA, and if the Flyers want to continue down the path of rebuilding, then he could be a key piece they can move to get valuable assets, like draft picks and young prospects. There has been speculation that he is on the trading block and could be moved this summer. He is only 24 years old and has much more potential than any goalie in Montreal’s system, and a change of scenery could be what restarts his career and improves his game. The Habs would also be getting a goalie that they could control contract-wise into his 30s, as they would get him in the final season of his RFA contract. If he can reach his full potential, they could have their replacement for Price.
The Canadiens don’t have to get a goaltender. Montembeault has been playing excellent hockey and is only 26. He has one more season of a cheap $1 million contract and could sign long-term for a lower price than any of these goaltenders. Montembeault, however, would still be a question mark for the future while any of these three are already established, and Montreal already knows what they would have. It will definitely be an exciting offseason for the Canadiens, and picking up a young goaltender and a high draft pick could speed up this rebuild faster than anyone thinks.
