Stu Cowan: Canadiens management is focused on the playoffs next season

“This is a team that has shown us a lot, and I think we'll spend the summer trying to see if we can take it forward,” Jeff Gorton said.

Author of the article:

Stew Cowan • Montreal Gazette

Published on April 17, 2024 • 4 minutes of reading

Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, left, and GM Kent Hughes answer questions from reporters after the team's death in Brossard on Wednesday. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

Since taking over as the Canadiens' executive vice-president of hockey operations in November 2021, Jeff Gorton has preached patience.

Now he talks about hope.

Content of the article

The Canadiens hope to make the playoffs next season, the third full season of his rebuilding plan. At the team's golf tournament last September, Gorton didn't use the “P word” when asked about the playoffs.

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Content of the article

The Canadiens finished last season with a 31-45-6 record, and they improved by eight points this season, going 30-36-16.

The Canadiens' 27 losses this season have come by one goal, a sign of hope for the future. The performances of captain Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkowski, as well as Cole Caulfield, have restored their goalscoring form at the end of the season with eight goals in the last nine games. After finishing his NCAA career at Boston University, there was hope and excitement when offensive guard Lane Hutson joined the team for the final two games.

What's been most impressive about the Canadiens this season is how hard the players have gone in every game, even when it's clear they won't make the playoffs. Martin St. Louis deserves a lot of credit for that, and on Wednesday, GM Kent Hughes announced the team will exercise the two-year option on the head coach's contract, meaning St. Louis is now under contract for three more seasons.

“We've got a lot of assets, we've got a lot of good players,” Gorton said when he and Hughes met the media at a post-mortem press conference at Brossard on Wednesday. “It's moving in the right direction and it's for Kent and me and Marty to figure out what that is.”

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Playoffs are no longer a taboo word.

Hughes said his priorities moving forward are adding more offensive talent, improving special teams and adding more physicality to the lineup. The GM knows he doesn't have a Stanley Cup-winning lineup right now, and he can't do it in 24 hours. But Hughes believes he can put together a squad that can challenge for a play-off spot next season.

“As far as the playoffs go, I want to make the playoffs,” Hughes said. “Jeff wants to make the playoffs. Are we willing to sit here today and say that if we don't (next season), it's a zero-sum game that we've failed? No.

“In the first year, at the year-end press conference, we didn't think it was something that needed to be discussed,” the GM added. “We were coming with the last place. We have been improving year after year and expect to continue to improve. How big it is, we'll see. I think (team owner/president) Jeff Molson said we want to be in the (playoff) mix, and I think that's a fair description. I don't know if we will cross the threshold. But we have to be better. We understand that. The fans deserve it and we will try our best. But we're not doing it at the expense of that long-term goal.”

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Content of the article

Gorton said he would look for a free agent this summer if he could help speed up his recovery. The same is true of trading.

“This is a team that has shown us a lot, and I think we'll spend the summer trying to figure out if we can take that forward,” Gorton said.

“There are a lot of good players here,” he added. “A lot of good young players are coming. It's really interesting. We are excited. It's a big job. Right now, that part is probably going to be hard to figure out who's going to be a part of as we move forward. It's really exciting, but it's the fun part of putting the team together and hopefully what we're doing is right.”

Gorton had a lot on his plate when he got to work, and his patience was starting to pay off. I asked him at Wednesday's press conference what he's most proud of in his career so far.

“The thing I'm most proud of is bringing in Kent and Marty,” he said. “They work great together. I think the three of us work well together. We have a plan. We follow it, we all believe in it. All the people we brought into the organization have been with us and have been very good recruits and very capable people. We have a lot of work to do.

“We're not here to work for fun,” he added. “We came here to win. And that's what we're trying to do. This is the plan, this is our long-term plan. We all want it to happen sooner. I hope it plays itself out.”

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