“I think that we’re armed with a lot to make trades happen,” executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton says ahead of draft.
The next few days will be critical as to whether the Canadiens eventually become successful in their rebuild, which is heading into its third full season.
Jeff Gorton, the Canadiens’ executive vice-president of hockey operations, told reporters in Las Vegas Thursday that he expects to keep the No. 5 pick.
“I wouldn’t want to lie to you and say yes, 100 per cent,” Gorton said. “But I feel confident that we’re picking five. Twenty-four hours, the phone’s still ringing, things are happening. But, listen, five is a great opportunity for us. It’s a season where you’re a lottery team. You want to take advantage in the draft of that type of year you had.”
With 12 picks at Friday’s draft and an abundance of young defencemen in the system, the Canadiens are well-positioned to make a trade (including the No. 26 pick) in order to acquire at least one forward who can provide offence. The Canadiens ranked 26th in the NHL in offence last season, scoring an average of 2.83 goals per game. They got 44 goals from their defencemen, ranking fourth in the NHL.
“I think that we’re armed with a lot to make trades happen,” Gorton said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of conversations that we probably wouldn’t be in if we were in a different situation.”
When asked if there were any defencemen he wouldn’t trade, Gorton said: “If there was, I wouldn’t tell you. It’s hard for me to stand here and say we would trade this guy but we wouldn’t trade that guy. I’m sure that people are watching back home. We’ll look at anything. We’re trying to get better. We’re trying to win and we’re trying to move this thing forward and this is a big weekend for that.”
Rounds 2-7 of the draft will be held Saturday and then the free-agent market opens on Monday.
“We’ve gone through those scenarios of what kind of players we might be looking at in that instance,” Gorton said when asked about free agency. “We’ll see on Monday, I guess, whether or not those people think the same way we do.”
Forward Jesse Ylönen can become a restricted free agent on Monday and Gorton said the Canadiens won’t make him a qualifying offer, meaning his days in Montreal are probably over after being selected in the second round (35th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft. Ylönen had 4-4-8 totals in 59 games last season with the Canadiens.
Sam Reinhart, 28, and Steven Stamkos, 34, are two of the big-name forwards who can become unrestricted free agents, but Gorton said it’s too early in the rebuilding process to be looking at players like them.
“We’ll look and see and see what those big names are thinking,” Gorton said “They have to be thinking the same thing we do, too. We have a lot of young players that are developing and opportunities that they need to play and I wouldn’t want to stunt somebody’s growth for something that was an older player for a long-term deal, stuff like that would set back the rebuild.”
Before the start of last season, Gorton didn’t want to use the word playoffs when talking about expectations for the team. But the Canadiens are hoping to accomplish enough over the next few days to fast-track the rebuild and make the playoffs a goal next season.
“I do. I think so,” Gorton said when asked if the Canadiens can be in the playoff mix next season. “I think we have the ability to be better and we’re going to try to do that.
“We’re looking at a bunch of scenarios unrelated to the draft that might be able to do that,” Gorton said when asked about fast-tracking things over the next few days. “That’s our job. We always want to have a better team when we come back. That’s what we’re doing, that’s what we’re in the process now of looking at that scenario. Yeah, it would be nice to add to the group moving forward.
“We’re rebuilding the team,” Gorton added. “We’re trying to get better every day. It’s boring to say that, but it’s the truth. And then we’re trying to seize any opportunity that comes our way. That’s what we’re here to do.”