Reminder: Reconstruction is not yet complete

Since last season, we've been hearing this phrase more and more: “The CH's rebuild is complete.”

Last spring's almost unexpected run of success certainly added fuel to the fire.

As a result, as our cousins say, expectations have started to rise, and fans want things to move faster. After all, the window seems to be opening…

“We need a second center, a right-handed defenseman, and more grit—now!” 

All this even though the Habs are still among the youngest teams in the entire NHL this season—even after signing Kreider, who came in specifically to add some weight and toughness to the offense.

I was already planning to put things into perspective so as not to panic too much about this somewhat frustrating start to the season, where the Habs are “leaving too many points on the table,” to quote the coach.

But now Nick Suzuki's injury—the Canadiens' indomitable captain—only serves to further underscore the point I wanted to make in my weekly column: the rebuild isn't over!

You can tell the team is still young when it struggles to adjust its play based on the score and the clock—to “manage the game.”

But you also get the sense that if they already had all the right players in the right positions, they'd already have a few more wins under their belt.

And we have plenty of reasons to believe that the Canadiens already have the right players in their organization—or, at the very least, that they have the resources to acquire them: quality prospects, draft picks, and plenty of cash.

So why panic?

So, if the rebuild were complete…

1. Michael Hage would likely already be settled in Montreal, ready to take on a bit more responsibility in the absence of #14…

2. Perhaps Kent Hughes would also have had the time and opportunity to land another center who's not too shabby—let's say, better than Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, and Philip Danault.

3. Young players like Slafkovsky and Demidov would have matured a bit more and be capable of taking on more leadership and responsibility.

4. By the time the rebuild is complete, all the top picks from the 2022 through 2026 drafts will have matured, begun to make significant contributions, or been traded for impact players.

Currently, aside from Lane Hutson (maybe…), Alex Newhook, and Noah Dobson, no player acquired during this period has yet reached his full potential! So we're still quite a ways from the finished product.

Dach was supposed to be the solution…

Numerous high draft picks have already been used to acquire Newhook (2023) and Dobson (2025), as well as Dach (2022).

In Dach's case, in hindsight, it must be admitted that the 13th overall pick traded to the Hawks—previously acquired in exchange for Alexander Romanov and the 66th overall pick—could have been better utilized.

The idea of acquiring Dach was, however, an excellent one. At the time, at age 21, the 6'4” Albertan had the makings of a quality second-line center. It was injuries that ruined everything for him… and perhaps his temperament didn't help either.

In any case, and despite a few better games lately, today, more than ever, we realize the gaping hole that this rare “blunder/bad luck” by the Hughes-Gorton duo has created within the organization.

That's undoubtedly why the Habs were so determined to move up from the 26th to the 21st pick in the 2024 draft to land Michael Hage…

Reinbacher is on his way…

Another player who hasn't quite reached where “theory” would have him is, of course, Reinbacher. But in his case, even though injuries have slowed his development, the Austrian still has a good chance of becoming something resembling the big, tall, effective right-handed defenseman—worthy of the top four—that we've been hoping for since he was selected fifth overall in 2023.

The player, who has just reached the 100-game mark in the AHL (regular season + playoffs), is showing very encouraging signs in this early stage of the season…

With Hage and Reinbacher, the CH is likely just a few months away from filling its two biggest holes in the lineup.

With such a young team, when it comes to these kinds of A-level prospects—who are so close to the NHL—patience is simply a must.

And, as we're seeing once again with Fowler, when they're ready to make the jump, A-level prospects usually make an immediate impact.

They're better than the players they're replacing.

The others…

As for Florian Xhekaj, he's come a long way. He brings that physicality everyone's been clamoring for—and it will undoubtedly come in handy. And his younger brother knows how to play hockey, too…

We could afford to be patient with the Russians Zharovsky and Pugachyov, picks from the 2025 and 2026 drafts. But no one would be surprised if they were used as bait in trades.

There's no doubt about Zharovsky's talent. But if the team wants to speed things up a bit and a big fish takes the bait, Hughes wouldn't hesitate for very long. The same goes for Pugachyov, whose weight gain (30 pounds this summer!) has raised a few eyebrows among observers…

L.J. Mooney (off to a quiet start in the NCAA…) and Bryce Pickford, eagerly awaited in Laval, are two others with great potential. They possess standout qualities that could open the doors to the NHL for them before long. Will it be in Montreal?

A chance to take a step back…

So there you have it: Suzuki's injury might help remind us that there's still about 15–20% of the rebuild left to complete.

15–20% is no small matter! It's more than just caulking the joints and painting the basement!

It means continuing to work on a few foundational elements: a second center and a top-4 defenseman.

It also means finishing up certain parts of the team: making a few more tweaks to the bottom of the lineup.

The good news is that the Canadiens have everything they need to fill in that missing 15–20% in a much more reasonable timeframe than many contractors…