3 Canadiens Entering Their Final Year With The Team

The Montreal Canadiens took an important step into the playoffs last season to get their players some much-needed experience. They plan on building on that with a major addition and some more development from their players. There should be some changes throughout the season, but also after the season with free agents and new contracts.

Mike Matheson

Mike Matheson is headed into the final year of his deal and he is likely going to head to free agency after the season. The Canadiens project to be competing for a playoff spot again, so they won't sell him off at the trade deadline, but there is also limited space on the back-end moving forward with Noah Dobson now on the team and with a big contract. Matheson will be asking for more than his current contract and he's earned that with his play before Lane Hutson arrived and his ability to alter his game to suit Montreal.

Joe Veleno

Joe Veleno was a depth addition for the Canadiens this offseason, and a late one at that. He hasn't lived up to expectations and has now bounced around to a few teams at 25 years old. He will play a fourth line role at best, but I don't envision him playing every game with some of the younger players starting to enter the fray. He is on a one-year contract, and although he is a RFA after the season, I can see the Canadiens not sending him a qualifying offer as the team won't need him further.

Jayden Struble

Jayden Struble may face a similar fate to some of the recently moved young defensemen only because there are too many options and not enough space on the Canadiens' blue line. Logan Mailloux was traded this offseason and Jordan Harris was moved on from before that, so Struble, likely finding himself as the seventh defenseman, could be the next one to leave. It was reported this offseason that Arber Xhekaj's value is surprisingly high for teams if they want to try to grab him, so that leaves Struble, with two years left on his deal and without exemption from waivers anymore. David Reinbacher is on his way soon as well to fill a roster spot.