An expansion primer for the Montreal Canadiens

The key to Montreal’s expansion strategy is Drouin. Heading into the season, the thought of leaving him unprotected would have seemed unrealistic. However, he struggled this season, scoring just twice in 44 games, hardly an ideal output from a $5.5M contract. He missed the end of the regular season plus all of the playoffs on a personal leave of absence, one that has yielded more questions than answers. When will he come back? Will he come back at all? If he does, will it be with Montreal or will there be a trade request? With the uncertainty surrounding his situation, his contract (which has two years left), and his struggles this season, Drouin’s trade value is arguably at an all-time low. Would Seattle take a swing on the potential upside or would the questions scare them off, making it more beneficial to leave him unprotected? GM Marc Bergevin will have a few more weeks to try to figure out the answers to those questions.

Evans is another potential wild card. His NHL experience is relatively limited (just 60 career regular season games) but the 25-year-old did well in limited playoff action and is nearing a return. He’s also signed for another year at the league minimum. Center depth among unprotected players around the league may not be the greatest so a cheap youngster could interest Seattle GM Ron Francis. Montreal might want to protect him but they’re a team that has a lot of unsigned players right now. To meet the requirement of two signed skaters with enough games played, he might have to be made available, especially if they don’t want to take the chance of losing Drouin.

Lehkonen is someone whose regular season had him in that iffy zone of being qualified at $2.2M with arbitration rights. He’s undoubtedly a strong defensive forward but aside from his rookie season, he hasn’t been much of a goal scorer and the open market wasn’t kind to those kind of players in the fall. He has helped his value to the point where he’s probably protected in a 7/3/1 scheme but he could also be a capable checker for the Kraken if they protect the four defensemen.

Projected Protection List

F Josh Anderson
F Brendan Gallagher (NMC)
F Jesperi Kotkaniemi
F Tyler Toffoli

D Ben Chiarot
D Joel Edmundson
D Jeff Petry (NMC)
D Shea Weber

G Carey Price (NMC)

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined.  Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined.  In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (3): Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin, Jake Evans
Defensemen (1): Brett Kulak

There are a few different ways that Seattle could go here. Adding Allen is certainly a safe decision. He isn’t a true number one but can still play 40-45 games and at $2.875M, he’s on an affordable contract and would be part of the plans beyond 2021-22. Drouin has the most upside but the highest risk of any of the skaters unprotected. Lehkonen (who isn’t listed above since he’s a restricted free agent and the above group is only for signed players) would be a viable middle-six forward while Evans and Kulak are more under the radar options but could be picked as well.

For Montreal to switch to a 7/3/1 scheme, they need to get another forward signed. Giving Perry a new deal and then exposing him with Byron (while protecting Drouin, Lehkonen, and Evans) would meet the exposure requirements but would also run the risk of losing Chiarot or Edmundson. With the way they’ve played in the playoffs, whichever is left available could very well become the favorite to be selected. While their mindset is justifiably on the Stanley Cup Final against Tampa Bay, there will need to be some decisions made soon on the expansion front.