Taking a look at a potential rebuild of the Montreal Canadiens

During his media availability on Monday, Montreal Canadiens Owner Geoff Molson told reporters that he's not afraid of the team going through a full rebuild if that's what Executive Vice-President Jeff Gorton and the new GM suggest.

Habs Molson on the subject of a potential rebuild if Gorton and GM recommended it: "I'm not afraid of that word and I think it's something our fans are not afraid of," he said.

If the Montreal Canadiens management group decides to go in that route, what would a potential rebuild look like?

It would likely start by selling off their pending unrestricted free agents which include: Cedric Paquette, Mathieu Perreault, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, and Chris Wideman. Montreal will likely seek draft picks for these players. The Canadiens are hosting the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and making a big splash in front of their home fans is something that is certainly at the back of everyone's minds in the front office.

Trading Paquette, Perreault, Kulak, and Wideman would likely bring back mid-round draft picks (4th-5th), while Ben Chiarot could fetch a second round pick. A couple weeks ago on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned that he wouldn't be shocked if the Montreal Canadiens received a first round pick in exchange for Chiarot, similar to Columbus getting a first round pick for David Savard last year.

Once they deal with the pending UFA's, the management group would have to sit down with veterans such as Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry, and Carey Price to see if they would want to be apart of a rebuild. Gallagher, likely the next captain of the Montreal Canadiens, would probably stay, but Jeff Petry and Carey Price could opt to move on.

Both Petry and Price have no-movement clauses, so in order to facilitate a trade, they would have to waive their NMC. Following this season, Petry has three years remaining on his contract at an AAV of $6.25. As for Price, he's under contract until after the 2025-26 season and has a cap hit of $10.5 million. If Montreal decides to ultimately move on from Carey Price at some point in the next year, they would have to retain salary in order to maximize the return. Whether that's 25% or even 50%, that'll be up to the new management group and what they think is best.

Then the management group would look at the core they would like to build around. Those players will likely be: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Alexander Romanov, Mattias Norlinder, among others.

Tyler Toffoli, Jonathan Drouin, Joel Edmundson could also be used as trade bait to help acquire more draft picks, and potentially prospects.

Whichever direction Jeff Gorton and the new GM of the Montreal Canadiens decide to go, it will be an exciting one for fans. A fresh start for the front office was definitely needed, now it's a matter of what they decide to do.

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