Canadiens are a good model for the Blackhawks, but they used a different blueprint

The Montreal Canadiens will take the ice tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, three wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Their fantastic run to the Eastern Conference Final has many pundits applauding their quick “rebuild”.  While the Canadiens are a great model for the Chicago Blackhawks, especially given the type of players at the top of their lineup, the Blackhawks didn’t use the same blueprint.

Some Blackhawks fans are wondering why the Canadiens can get to a Conference Final in four years, while the Blackhawks can’t get out of the NHL’s basement. The simple answer is that the Canadiens didn’t do a full teardown; in fact, their reshaping of the team began long before the big changes in 2022.

The Path Back to Contention

The path to the 2026 Eastern Conference Final began on Sept. 9, 2018, when they traded captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights. The biggest piece of the return was the current captain, Nick Suzuki. They missed the postseason by only two points that season and even acquired Ilya Kovalchuk to boost their offense. The Canadiens returned to the postseason the next season and made their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.

The 2021-22 season was a disaster for the Canadiens, which forced them to make some big changes. After an 8-30-7 start, head coach Dominique Ducharme was fired and replaced by Martin St. Louis, who had never been an NHL coach before. General manager Marc Bergevin also lost his job, and the role was eventually given to Kent Hughes.

A big reason for the awful start was the injuries to defenseman Shea Weber and goaltender Carey Price. Weber never played another game after the Stanley Cup Final, and Price was limited to only five more games before his career ultimately ended. Losing those two veteran pieces forces your hand to go into a different direction.

Hughes didn’t need to strip his team down to the studs like Kyle Davidson did when he inherited the Blackhawks in 2022. Hughes already had Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, and Jake Evans, who have been big contributors to this spring’s playoff run, when he took the over. It was a combination of savvy trades and some good fortune in the NHL Entry Draft that got them back on the road to contention.

In 2022, Hughes traded Artturi Lehkonen for defenseman Justin Baron and a second-round pick. Barron was eventually dealt to the Nashville Predators for Alexandre Carrier, while the pick was packaged in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings to get into the first round and select prospect Michael Hage.

Acquiring Kirby Dach at the 2022 draft has not been the home run Hughes had hoped for, but the Blackhawks got Frank Nazar out of that three-way deal. Later that summer, he acquired defenseman Mike Matheson for Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling. Giving up a first and second-round pick to the Avalanche in 2023 for Alex Newhook has proven to be invaluable this postseason.

Hughes took a big swing at the 2025 draft, giving up two first-round picks and Emil Heineman to the New York Islanders for defenseman Noah Dobson. The Islanders used these picks to select Viktor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson, as they look to retool their veteran team. Hughes also made an under-the-radar move by acquiring Zach Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues for Logan Mailloux.

Hitting on Multiple Draft Picks

It takes these types of trades, as well as some good fortune in the draft, to build a championship contender. You have to give Bergevin some credit, as two of his first-round picks have been major contributors. He took Cole Caufield 15th overall in 2019 after some teams passed on him for being “too small.” The following year, he drafted defenseman Kaiden Guhle with the 16th pick. He also selected goaltender Jakub Dobes in the fifth round.

In 2022, Hughes’ first draft year, the Canadiens won the Draft Lottery, which they had the best odds of doing. They used the pick to take Juraj Slafkovsky, who, in his fourth NHL season, has developed into the player they envisioned. He then drafted Lane Hudson in the second round after he fell to 62nd overall because, once again, he was “too small” to play in the NHL. When you have six picks in the first three rounds, as Hughes did, you can take the risk on a player like Hutson, and boy, has it paid off.

In 2024, Ivan Demidov dropped to fifth overall after the Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and Columbus Blue Jackets all passed on him. Again, it takes some good fortune, including what the teams in front of you do, to get all the right pieces.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for Hughes, as there have been some missteps along the way. Drafting defenseman David Reinbacher fifth overall in 2023 fifth overall in 2023 hasn’t panned out. The pick looks worse when you consider players like Matvei Michkov, Ryan Leonard, and Zach Benson were on the board. But when you win, the fan base doesn’t obsess over the players you didn’t pick. The acquisitions of Sean Moahan and Patrik Laine didn’t bear the fruit Hughes was hoping for either, but he’s had more hits than misses.

As we’ve pointed out numerous times, Davidson needs to enter the phase of making moves to help the team win now. Hughes already had a solid foundation when he took over, and he has done a fantastic job of building on it. Davidson must do the same in Chicago. There are key pieces already in place; now it’s time to surround them with a better roster so they can be the next young team to make a postseason push.

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