The Montreal Canadiens rebuild is well underway and several key pieces are already in place after a couple years of losing hockey games.
Their first line of Nick Suzuki between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky is becoming a dominant trio at a very young age. The 24 year old center with his 23 year old and 19 year old wingers have been playing at nearly a point per game pace for the past 20 games this season.
The young defense has the odd night where they get overwhelmed, but for the most part are developing into a deep unit led by Kaiden Guhle, Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris. The fact Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, Logan Mailloux and Justin Barron are still developing and all have the potential to be impact NHL players makes the blue line look like it only needs time to become a finished product.
Gorton was hired in November of 2021, meaning he has been on the job for just about a year and a half. He is the team’s executive vice president of hockey operations, and was brought over after being the general manager of the New York Rangers.
Gorton has not added every single piece that is in the system for the Canadiens, but he did oversee the drafting of Slafkvosky first overall when many were looking elsewhere, and he also grabbed Hutson with a second round pick that same year.
He also hired Kent Hughes to be the team’s general manager and the pair have worked in tandem to see the Canadiens through the rebuild phase.
At least that was the original thought. Gorton’s boss when he was with the Rangers was John Davidson, who now has a similar position to Gorton with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Those Blue Jackets now have a vacant general manager position as Jarmo Kekalainen was relieved of his duties.
