The Montreal Canadiens have been busy in the off-season, signing a few depth NHL players and quality offensive options for the Laval Rocket. This is how the list of drafted prospects and players on NHL contracts looks now that things have quieted down a bit.
Even with two key restricted free agent forwards left to sign — Phillip Danault and Joel Armia filed for salary arbitration this week — the Canadiens have too many players at the NHL level. Of those currently listed under that heading, only Noah Juulsen and Victor Mete can be directly assigned to the AHL. The rest would need to pass through waivers where they could be claimed by any of the other 30 teams.
That situation is true for a few of the players currently slotted as AHL players as well, including the recently signed Michael Chaput and Kenny Agostino, and also Michael McCarron, who becomes eligible for waivers for the first time in 2018-19.
Not included are the 10 players signed to minor-league deals, like forward Alexandre Grenier and defenceman T.J. Melancon, so there will be a lot of work to do to distribute people throughout the organization ahead of the new season.
As always you can always find the latest depth chart, and the draft picks the Canadiens hold for next year as well as those they’ve made since 2005 right here.
