Montreal Canadiens News

Velno was bought out by the Seattle Kraken a few weeks ago and has found a new home in Montreal after agreeing to a one-year, $900,000 contract with the Canadiens. The 25-year-old forward was once Detroit's 2018 first-round pick (30th overall) and has spent the last five seasons in the NHL, splitting time between the Red Wings and Blackhawks. He appeared in 74 games between Chicago and Detroit in 2024-25, picking up eight goals, 17 points and a -23 plus/minus.

Trudeau turned pro in 2023 and has played three straight seasons with the Laval Rocket. Most recently, the 22-year-old defenseman had five goals and 14 assists (19 points) in 68 games. With a loaded blueline in Montreal, Trudeau's path to NHL games is difficult.

Injuries on Nashville's blueline last season helped Del Gaizo become a lineup-regular for the first time at the NHL level, scoring nine points (2G / 7A) in 46 games. The 25-year-old defenseman has primarily played in the AHL, including scoring 12 points (8G / 4A) in 30 games with the Milwaukee Admirals last season.

Farrell was Montreal's fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. The 23-year-old played six games for the Canadiens in the 2022-23 season but has exclusively played in the AHL since. He scored 44 points (20G / 24A) in 67 games with the Laval Rocket (AHL) last season.

Clurman made his NHL debut last season, playing one game with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Montreal Canadiens. The 27-year-old Clurman scored 11 points (2G / 9A) in 31 games from the blueline with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) last season.

Blais had a breakout 2022-23 season, scoring 20 points (9G / 11A) in 31 games with the St. Louis Blues, but only scored seven points (1G / 6A) in 53 games in 2023-24 and ultimately spent the entirety of the 2024-25 season in the AHL. After losing Joel Armia and Michael Pezzetta, the Canadiens will look to Blais to compete for a bottom-six role in the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Kahkonen had a one-game stint with the Colorado Avalanche early in the 2024-25 season when they were experimenting with goalies, but failed to impress and spent the remainder of the season in the AHL. The 28-year-old goalie had a 2.30 GAA and .906 SV% in 12 games (8-4-0) with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) last season. His last campaign as a full-time goalie on an NHL roster was in 2022-23 with the San Jose Sharks when he posted a 3.81 GAA and .895 SV% in 31 games (6-20-3). He will likely be third on Montreal's depth chart behind Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes.

Montreal and St. Louis completed a one-for-one prospect swap just hours before the Free Agency window after they agreed to trade forward Zack Bolduc for Logan Mailloux. Bolduc is a 22-year-old right-winger who was drafted in the 1st round (17th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. Across 72 games with St. Louis in his first full season in 2024-25, he had 19 goals, 36 points and a +20 plus/minus.

After being acquired from Chicago earlier in the week (for Andre Burakovsky), Joe Veleno has been placed on unconditional waivers by Seattle for the purposes of a buyout. The 25-year-old forward is in the 2nd year of a 2-year, $4.55 million contract and will incur a hit of $2,275,000 AAV in the 2025-26 season.

Dobson was acquired from the Islanders in a sign-and-trade, so the Canadiens were able to lock him up to an eight-year deal and get a $5.5M AAV raise from his previous contract. Dobson is one of the NHL's best goal-scoring defensemen, having posted double-digit goals in four straight seasons. He ranks 14th among blueliners with 46 goals during that stretch. In Montreal, he'll have to battle with the likes of Lane Hutson for PP1 time, and his most likely path to that usage is if Montreal uses both of them on the same unit.

Dobson had a breakout 70-point campaign in 2023-24, but followed that up with just 39 points (10G / 29A) in 71 games last season. Some of that can be attributed to the Islanders' power-play dipping from 19th (20.4%) to 31st (12.6%), resulting in 12 fewer power-play assists. In Montreal, he'll be a huge minute eater, but a bounce-back fantasy season could be tougher to come by because of Lane Hutson. Obviously, they could end up together on the top PP unit, but he's now got significantly more competition for PP time, even if it wasn't always fruitful in New York.

Rohrer was a third-round pick of the Canadiens in 2022 and has won back-to-back National League Championships while playing with Zurich SC. In 2024-25, Rohrer had 15 goals and 10 assists (25 points) in 52 games and added five points (1G / 4A) in 16 playoff games.

Carrier was limited to only 13:39 time-on-ice in Sunday's 5-2 Game 4 loss to the Washington Capitals, exiting the contest due to an undisclosed injury. The 28-year-old defenseman had two points (1G / 1A) and was averaging 22:00 time-on-ice in the three games before his injury.

Dobes was thrust into the Canadiens' crease midway through Game 3 after Samuel Montembeault suffered a lower-body injury and will remain there on Wednesday in a must-win Game 5. The 23-year-old Dobes was serviceable in his first career playoff start in Game 4, saving 21 of 24 shots (.875 SV%), but allowed a goal late in the third period en route to a 5-2 loss. The Canadiens are down 3-1 in the series and enter Game 5 as +160 road underdogs against the Washington Capitals.

Laine will miss a third consecutive game due to an upper-body injury. The 27-year-old Laine played the first two games of the postseason, picking up one assist and a -2 plus/minus. He had 33 points (20G / 13A) in 52 games in his first season with the Canadiens.

Montembeault exited Game 3 midway through the second period due to a lower-body injury and will not play for a second consecutive game. Jakub Dobes was between the pipes for the Canadiens in Game 4 and will return to the crease for Game 5. Montembeault remains day-to-day but did not travel with the team to Washington.

Carrier was limited to only 13:39 time-on-ice in Sunday's 5-2 Game 4 loss to the Washington Capitals, exiting the contest due to an undisclosed injury. The 28-year-old defenseman had two points (1G / 1A) and was averaging 22:00 time-on-ice in the three games before his injury.