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Given their status-quo statement on free agency, how many seasons do you think it will take the Habs to make the playoffs and win a round or two? I personally see them as being two or three seasons away from being any kind of playoff contender.

Lee McNaughton

The way the Canadiens look right now — after free agency — they’re going to have a real tough time making the playoffs next season. They simply don’t have enough offence from their forwards and Ivan Demidov is at least a year away from joining the Canadiens as he completes his KHL contract with St. Petersburg after being selected with the No. 5 overall pick at last Friday’s NHL Draft.

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Do you think the Habs will acquire one top-six forward this summer?

Luc Dussault

This question ties in well with the first one.

I do think GM Kent Hughes will make a trade to acquire a top-six forward before the start of the season. He wasn’t willing to give a long-term deal to veteran free-agent forward Jonathan Marchessault, who instead ended up getting a five-year, US$27.5-million contract from the Nashville Predators that carries a US$5.5 million annual salary-cap hit. Marchessault will be 38 when that contract expires.

I can see Hughes making a trade for a younger forward who either is a top-six forward or has the potential to become one, or for a veteran free-agent forward who has two or three years remaining on his contract.

“We weren’t going into this off-season saying: ‘Wow! We could get a player here and win the Stanley Cup,’ ” Hughes said Monday after the free-agent market opened. “We went into the off-season thinking if we could do something to give the group a better chance … again, we want to build a team that can compete consistently for a Stanley Cup and not show up one year and then we’re back out of the playoffs a year after. But If we can do that for the group, I think that they’ve worked hard and they deserve that.”

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I believe adding another top-six forward would give the Canadiens a real shot at making the playoffs next season, but I think management’s long-term goal is more focused on that happening the following season.

“I think we’ll grow organically and be better than we were last year,” Hughes said about next season. “The one unknown that we’ve dealt with in varying degrees over the last few seasons is the injuries. But if we’re healthy, I expect that we’re a better team organically. If we have Kirby Dach for 82 games instead of one and a period (before a serious knee injury) we’re a better hockey team. We expect our young players get better. I expect that as a team we improve the more that they work together and understand. You add building blocks when you have continuity in terms of your group. We have to improve this, this, this — and then when you’ve done that you can take another step.”

How is Kirby Dach doing? Is his recovery on track? Can we expect him to report to training camp?

Paul Martin

As of now, there’s no reason to believe Dach won’t be ready for training camp.

When he spoke with the media in mid-February, Dach said: “I feel good. My body, the way I move. I was walking around without a brace two or three weeks after surgery and skating three-and-a-half months after. I feel good there, feel strong. I think it’s just more of a mental battle when you’re out for this long to constantly stay tracked in and to be focused on what’s going on and the task at hand.”

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The bigger question will be can Dach stay healthy? He has been injury prone since suffering a broken wrist during an exhibition game against Russia ahead of the world junior tournament in December 2020 when he was a Chicago Blackhawk. Dach was limited to 18 games that season with the Blackhawks.

Dach missed 24 games two seasons ago with the Canadiens and 80 games last season.

Following this year’s draft, I’m feeling pretty happy with our forwards and defence. But what about the goalies? Is Sam Montembeault really the future of the Habs?

Alfredo Masin

We’ll take a big step toward finding out this season with Montembeault starting as the undisputed No. 1 goalie, following the three-goalie rotation for most of last season along with Cayden Primeau and Jake Allen, who was eventually traded to the New Jersey Devils.

Montembeault will be entering the first season of his three-year, US$9.45-million contract looking to prove he can be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL with Primeau as his backup. Montembeault obviously knows all about Jacob Fowler, who is being tagged as the Canadiens’ “goalie of the future” after an outstanding freshman season at Boston College. Fowler is one of three goalies the Canadiens drafted last year, along with Quentin Miller and Yevgeni Volokhin. They drafted another goalie this year, Mikus Vecvanags.

So the stage is set for a goaltending battle moving forward. But Montembeault heads into this season as the goalie of the future at age 27.

If you have a question you’d like to ask for our weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to [email protected]

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