When Kent Hughes told media members on July 1st that the work to address the center position was still in progress, Joe Veleno wasn’t the identified missing piece. Instead, Habs general manager Hughes secured the rights of a left-shot center in case a deal does not materialize before opening night.
Detroit drafted Veleno 30th overall in 2018. His NHL career hasn’t met early expectations. The Red Wings traded the forward to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 7th, where he completed the season. On June 22, Chicago dealt his rights to Seattle. The Kraken bought out his final contract year at $2.275 million.
If there are no further transactions and no injuries during training camp, Veleno will have a bottom-six role. His 46.5 percent career success rate at the faceoff dot is higher than Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach’s numbers. Based on our early line projections, the newest addition virtually eliminates the odds of a forward prospect getting a chance to start the season in Montreal.
Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia’s departures created openings on the penalty kill units. Veleno has not held a role in those situations in the NHL. Will Martin St-Louis try that experiment? Last season, the coach converted Josh Anderson to an important piece short-handed and the forward successfully accomplished the task.
The organization is rolling the dice on the 25-year-old, hoping a change of scenery and wearing the jersey of the team he grew up watching, ignites a spark. If it doesn’t, the acquisition price wasn’t steep, and without a long-term commitment.
In the meantime, management can continue working the phones for a long term solution down the middle.
Olympic-Year Schedule
The Canadiens did a great job with their schedule reveal video on social media in a comedic bit that featured Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, and emergency goalie Patrick Chevrefils.
NHL players heading to the Milan Olympics led to major schedule changes league-wide. Let’s look at it from the Canadiens perspective.
The oddest month is in December, where the Habs have four back-to-backs and begin a stretch of five consecutive Sunday matches. If St. Louis wants to make adjustments in January, most will happen by video. The team is scheduled for 16 games that month. There are no traditional Super Bowl weekend matinees this season, due to the Olympic break. There are no afternoon games at the Bell Centre this year as an alternative for families.
With the schedule increasing to 84 games and a new Canadian television deal in 2026-27, more viewing habits might be changing in the future.
