Several Canadiens players to leave the organization by Tuesday

Only three players will be eligible for full autonomy on Tuesday, if they don’t come to a last-minute agreement with the team: Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak and Michael Pezzetta. 

Pezzetta hardly ever played, and Dvorak looks like he’ll be heading back south of the border.

Among restricted free agents, it’s also very slim: Emil Heineman (without arbitration rights), Jayden Struble (with arbitration rights), Jakub Dobes (with arbitration rights) and Cayden Primeau (with arbitration rights) are the only RFAs in the making.

GM Kent Hughes has until 5 p.m. Monday to submit a qualifying offer to these guys. Such an offer would allow the Habs to retain the rights of the players mentioned, but it would open the door to arbitration with Struble, Primeau and Dobes. 

What will Hughes do? 

Heineman, Dobes and Struble will receive their qualifying offers. As for Primeau, he’s likely to leave … but will he be traded or simply let go?

And don’t write off the possibility of Arber Xhekaj, Josh Anderson, Patrik Laine, Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, Joshua Roy, Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher, Mike Matheson or even Kirby Dach being sacrificed in a transaction.

For the AHL Laval Rocket?

Brandon Gignac and Connor Hughes have already announced that they will continue their careers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Alex Barre-Boulet could well follow in their footsteps, especially given the vibe of his post-season press conference in Laval.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard will be eligible for restricted autonomy (and possible arbitration), and it would be surprising to see the Canadiens go before an arbitrator for RHP. But could the two parties come to an agreement on the side?

Sean Farrell (RFA), Xavier Simoneau (RFA with arbitration), William Trudeau (RFA) and Noel Hoefenmayer (RFA with arbitration) will need new deals if they want to stay with the organization.

Gustav Lindstrom has signed a five-year contract in Sweden. He’s not coming back.

With all these departures, we can easily conclude that there will be several additions announced over the next few days.

Hopefully, both the Canadiens and the Rocket will be able to add muscle, character and grit to their respective line-ups. That’s what’s been lacking most during both playoff runs.

Changes behind the bench or in the office?

Every year or so, the Canadiens or Rocket make changes behind the bench or in the office.

Will Trevor Letowski and Stephane Robidas remain Martin St. Louis’ two assistants? Will Éric Raymond still be the big club’s goaltending coach in September? Will Roger Grillo retain his position as consultant? Will a new, more present assistant be hired?

Will there be any changes at the amateur or professional scouting level?

Will Pascal Vincent return to Laval? If so, will he still be teaming up with Martin Laperriere, Daniel Jacob and Marco Marciano?

Stop saying that nothing will happen in the next few days. There will be changes; the only question is what they will be.