{"id":471396,"date":"2025-06-29T20:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T00:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=471396"},"modified":"2025-06-29T20:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T00:01:05","slug":"realistic-free-agent-forward-targets-for-the-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/29\/realistic-free-agent-forward-targets-for-the-montreal-canadiens\/","title":{"rendered":"Realistic Free Agent Forward Targets For the Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL Entry Draft is now behind us, and we are now on the cusp of free agency. The 2025 free agent class is headlined by the likes of Mitch Marner<\/a>, Brad Marchand<\/a>, and Aaron Ekblad<\/a>, amongst others. Some of the dominoes have already fallen as John Tavares<\/a>, Matt Duchene<\/a>, and Claude Giroux<\/a> have all re-signed with their respective clubs.<\/p>\n

As for the Montreal Canadiens, it doesn’t look like they will be going big game hunting in free agency. They have been linked to dynamic wingers like Brock Boeser<\/a> and Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a> in the past. However, Montreal just made the splash of the summer by acquiring defenceman Noah Dobson and inking him to an eight-year deal worth 9.5 million annually.<\/a> Therefore, they may be more hesitant to sign big-name free agents this year. However, the Canadiens still need some help up front in the immediate future.<\/a> Let’s take a look at some realistic ways the Montreal Canadiens can bolster their offense in free agency.<\/p>\n

Realistic Montreal Canadiens Free Agent Forward Options<\/h2>\n

Patrick Kane<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Patrick Kane seems to have been lost in the free agency discussion. Everyone has been focused on the Marner’s and the Marchand’s of the world, so they seem to have overlooked a productive player in Detroit. Even at 36 years old, Kane is a viable top-six option. He recorded 59 points in 72 games this season with the Red Wings<\/a>. General manager Steve Yzerman<\/a> seems to have faith that a Kane deal will get done<\/a>. However, could the veteran be enticed to join an exciting young Canadiens squad?<\/p>\n

Kane would be a perfect fit on the second line with Kirby Dach<\/a> whom he has familiarity from their Chicago days,<\/a> as well as rookie Ivan Demidov<\/a>. Kane would also help give Montreal two solid power-play units by giving depth to their second wave. Kane’s current deal with the Wings sees him making only four million. On his new deal, he likely wouldn’t command a raise, and therefore, he’d be a good value option to bolster the Habs top-six.<\/p>\n

Corey Perry<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Canadiens are very familiar with what Corey Perry can bring to a team. He was a big part of Montreal’s 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Final<\/a>. At 40 years old, Perry is chasing a second Stanley Cup. Money would be no issue for the veteran, and Montreal could likely get him for under 2 million a year. He has been to five of the last six Stanley Cup Finals, losing in each of them. Therefore, adding Perry pretty much guarantees a Cup Finals appearance for the Habs next season.<\/p>\n

All jokes aside, Perry is still a productive player even at his age. He had 19 goals and 30 points this year for the Oilers. He has a lot of mileage on his body, but still finds a way to turn up his game for the playoffs each year. The veteran tallied ten goals and twelve points during the team’s cup run. Corey Perry is the type of player who gets you through the playoffs, and his size, leadership, and grit are something the Canadiens could use more of.<\/p>\n

Tanner Jeannot<\/a><\/h3>\n

Tanner Jeannot is one of the toughest customers in the NHL. He brings size, grit, and toughness to any lineup on a nightly basis. Jeannot managed to score 41 points, including 24 goals in the 2021-22 season. However, he has failed to reach the 20-point mark since then. We know that Jeannot has the ability to score, but even if he doesn’t put up the points, he brings another element to the Canadiens lineup that they are lacking. Montreal got bullied by the Washington Capitals<\/a> and now know they need to add some toughness. Tanner Jeannot can fill that void.<\/p>\n

No team will be giving him a big contract in free agency, so if the Montreal Canadiens can get him at under two million annually, it would be a solid signing. Montreal has some young guys like Joshua Roy<\/a>, Owen Beck<\/a>, and Oliver Kapanen<\/a> pushing for roster spots. With this being said, Jeannot may not play every night. However, he would at the very least be an upgrade at the extra forward position over pending free agent Michael Pezzetta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Eric Bolte<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NHL Entry Draft is now behind us, and we are now on the cusp of free agency. The 2025 free agent class is headlined by the likes of Mitch Marner, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad, amongst others. Some of the dominoes have already fallen as John Tavares, Matt Duchene, and Claude Giroux have all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":471419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,4547,4548],"tags":[1452,122,7974,4404,3505,7735,229,360,2718,6837,7287,299,6613],"class_list":["post-471396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadiens","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-brock-boeser","tag-corey-perry","tag-ivan-demidov","tag-joshua-roy","tag-kirby-dach","tag-michael-pezzetta","tag-mitch-marner","tag-nikolaj-ehlers","tag-noah-dobson","tag-oliver-kapanen","tag-owen-beck","tag-patrick-kane","tag-tanner-jeannot"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471396"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":471420,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471396\/revisions\/471420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}