Canadiens' season was ‘huge stepping-stone' to future, Jeff Gorton says

Montreal Gazette

05-05-2025

Montreal Canadiens
By
Making the playoffs, even for a brief five-game exercise, was only the first step in the Canadiens' marathon to a potential championship run.
The team's management noted much work remains and vowed to improve the club this summer.
'We're not done. There's a lot to do here,' Jeff Gorton, the Canadiens' executive vice-president (hockey operations), said Monday morning, when he and general manager Kent Hughes met the media for 45 minutes at the Bell Centre for their season-ending review.
'It has been a real good year, a fun year for everybody to be part of. We're going to use it as a huge stepping-stone to where we're going,' Gorton added. 'There's a lot of areas we need to improve in to be a team that's still playing now. We can defend better. We need more scoring. We need to be bigger. We want to be more competitive. There's a lot there, and we're far from a finished product. We want to build a team that can compete for a Stanley Cup every year. We're getting there (but) we're not quite there.'
With the mandate of being in the mix this season, the Canadiens far exceeded expectations, securing the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference with a victory over Carolina in their final regular-season game. Montreal went 40-31-11 for 91 points. It garnered the same amount of points as New Jersey, which finished third in the Metropolitan Division. More importantly, the Canadiens improved by 15 points from a season earlier, when they were second-last overall in the conference.
While Montreal was competitive in its first-round series against top-seeded Washington, flaws were exposed. The Canadiens remain a small team and weren't a physical match for the Capitals. They also scored only 12 goals in the series — six in their lone victory — with seven coming from Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky.
'I believe we're moving in the right direction,' Gorton said. 'We're not there yet, where we want to be, but we're getting there. It's a big summer with big opportunities, hopefully to move this thing forward. This is a hockey market. Everyone wants us to do well. We're just trying to keep the players understanding that next season's going to be really hard. To keep moving it forward is going to be hard. There's a lot of teams that would like to be in the spot we were in this year. They're going to be nipping at us. We have to be very aware of that.'
The Canadiens, a fast-skating team, were dangerous when given space, as head coach Martin St. Louis said after their elimination. But space comes at a premium during the playoffs. It will be management's mission to determine whether size trumps talent and speed.
'We're trying to get better in all areas,' Gorton said. 'We're not a finished product. There's not one area of our team where we're saying we're done there. We'll continue to look at everything.
'Everyone's talking about size and Washington, the way they played. Certainly, we're aware of that. We're going to have a lot of discussions about size, but compete is really the biggest thing. Making sure we have people that are comfortable in a playoff environment to play in all situations.'
Two players — Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine — have come into focus recently as their future with the Canadiens becomes a hot topic.
While Laine missed the final three games against Washington with a broken finger, Hughes said Montreal wouldn't have made the playoffs without his production and willingness to improve. Laine had 20 goals, including 15 on the power play, and 33 points in 52 games after missing the first two months with a knee injury.
But more uncertainty surrounds Dach and his recurring right knee issues. He underwent surgery in late February after notching 10 goals and 22 points in 57 games. This came after he was limited to two games the previous season with ACL and MCL tears in the same knee.
While Hughes denied Dach, 24, is on his last chance, Gorton sounded less enthusiastic.
'We're going to have to see how he responds this summer to the rehab and going through this again,' Gorton said. 'There's certainly a place for him in our lineup. It's going to be up to him where that's going to be. He has size, he's competitive, he's got skill. He's a very talented player. He's going to need a big camp to get himself going and get started early.'
In the meantime, Gorton and Hughes will be keeping close tabs on the Laval Rocket and hope the AHL team has an extended playoff run to see whether defencemen David Reinbacher and/or Logan Mailloux are ready to replace the retired David Savard next season.
They're also hopeful of extending fellow defenceman Lane Hutson, a Calder Trophy finalist. He becomes eligible to sign as of July 1.