Gallagher is gone. Next: Samuel Montembeault

I know it's only June 30 and summer is still young…

But I also know that pretty much all teams in the NHL build their rosters between June 15 and July 4. In short, there are only a few days left to significantly improve the Canadiens' roster.

Because we can all agree that Kent Hughes isn't going to go out and sign a second-line center, a right-handed defenseman to play alongside Lane Hutson or Mike Matheson, and a winger like Matthew Knies in September…

So far, the Canadiens aren't any better than they were during their series against the Hurricanes. They haven't improved.

Brendan Gallagher, Patrik Laine, Samuel Blais, Joe Veleno, and Joshua Roy have left—as have some players who were with the Laval Rocket—and only Maksymilian Szuber, Brett Berard, and Hunter McKown have joined the organization.

Szuber has played one NHL game in his career, Berard is a 5'9” winger, and McKown is a true AHLer.

In short, today's Habs are pretty much the same as they were a month ago.

And neither Hage, Zharovsky, nor Pogushyov will be playing with the team in September…

If the team isn't better in a week, I'll predict a worse season and a shorter playoff run. And I won't be the only one.

Let's go, Kent! Let's go, Jeff!

Samuel Montembeault, next up?

Kent Hughes agreed to absorb $3.25 million of Brendan Gallagher's salary in order to find him a new team. However, stop thinking he was kind, humane, respectful, etc.

I'm not saying Kent Hughes isn't a good person, but yesterday he was faced with two options: trade Gallagher while retaining 50% of his contract, or buy out two-thirds of his contract. Trading him to the Canucks was more advantageous for the Habs. That's it!

Especially since Gallagher was the 14th or 15th forward on the team's depth chart…

Now that Gallagher is gone, all eyes are on Samuel Montembeault. Freeing up $3.15 million in the Habs' payroll would be a huge help to Kent Hughes, just hours before the free-agent market opens.