Out of the Bleu, Blanc, Rouge: The Montreal Canadiens Saw No Hughes For Mantha
In this week’s Bleu, Blanc Rouge, we look at the Anthony Mantha situation and some possible reasons why the Montreal Canadiens ultimately passed on the big winger.
When the New Jersey Devils announced on Wednesday that they had signed Anthony Mantha to a two-year contract carrying an average annual value of $4.75 million, it caught the attention of many around the NHL. It especially raised eyebrows in Montreal.
The Longueuil, Quebec native is hardly a perfect player. At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, he brings size that cannot be taught and scored 33 goals and 64 points with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season. Those numbers do not exactly grow on trees, especially when attached to a player who seemed to be lingering on the unrestricted free agent market deep into July.
Amongst many Canadiens fans, the assumption was that there had to be a catch. Perhaps Mantha was looking for a five or six-year deal. Maybe his salary demands were through the roof. Instead, he signed a short-term contract at a cap hit that, on the surface, appears quite reasonable considering the contracts given so far this off-season. Even more so for a club still searching for help in its top six.
Considering the Canadiens’ well-documented need for a scoring winger with size, one who can play on the second line, it is fair to ask the question: Why wasn’t Kent Hughes interested? Some have suggested that Mantha had little interest in returning home to play under the Bell Centre spotlight. His career has been marked by injuries and stretches of inconsistency, and Montreal is not exactly a city known for offering patience and anonymity. However, according to the player himself, the interest was very much mutual.
“We did have talks,” Mantha told La Presse. “There was mutual interest, but when it came time to discuss years and numbers, they didn’t put an offer on the table, so we went in another direction. We gave them a whole week to call us back, but they never did.”
That quote is perhaps the most interesting part of this entire story. This wasn’t a case of Mantha shutting the door on Montreal. The Canadiens simply never walked through it. In fact, the big winger delayed signing with New Jersey in hope to get a call from the Habs.
Naturally, this leads to speculation. Perhaps Hughes and Jeff Gorton believe there are better options available. Maybe discussions are ongoing elsewhere, and management feels confident enough in another avenue that they weren’t willing to commit nearly $5 million annually to a player carrying some baggage. After all, this has been the summer of rumours. Names like Dylan Larkin, Elias Pettersson, Jason Robertson and Connor Hellebuyck continue to circulate in various reports and fan discussions. Even if the Canadiens are not serious players for those particular stars, they could be involved in multi-team scenarios to facilitate larger deals. Hughes has never been shy about being creative.
Still, the calendar does not stop for anyone.
For perhaps the first time since this management group took over, there is a noticeable level of frustration beginning to build among portions of the fanbase. The Canadiens entered the off-season with clear needs: a legitimate left-handed second-line centre, another top-six scoring threat with size, a right-handed top-4 defenseman and some grit on the bottom forward lines. To date, not one of those boxes have been checked.
Patience has been one of the virtues preached throughout this rebuild. Eventually, though, patience starts feeling a lot like waiting for a bus in a Quebec snowstorm. You trust it’ll arrive eventually, but after a while, you start wondering if you missed it altogether.
One thing is certain: if opening night arrives and the Montreal Canadiens have failed to address their biggest needs, the honeymoon between management and the fanbase may officially be over.
RAPID FIRE
📌 The Canadiens agreed to a one-year, $3.6 million contract extension with Kirby Dach. Many fans had already packed his bags for him after another injury-plagued season. Instead, Hughes is giving Dach one final opportunity to prove he can be part of the solution. This is the hockey equivalent of hearing “last call” at your favourite pub. The bartender is still pouring, but nobody is promising another round.
📌 At the time of writing, the Montreal Canadiens still have approximately $11.58 million in available cap space for the upcoming season, according to CapWages. Meanwhile, Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj remain unsigned. There is still room to manoeuvre, which only adds fuel to the belief that Hughes isn’t done shopping.
📌 Well into the third week of July, the Montreal Canadiens continues to have three goaltenders penciled in for NHL duty. Few would dispute that Jakub Dobes established himself as the clear-cut starter last season, while Jacob Fowler increasingly looks NHL-ready. That leaves Samuel Montembeault, who struggled mightily in 2025-26.
📌 With several teams still looking for help between the pipes, one has to wonder whether Hughes can find Montembeault a fresh start elsewhere. Edmonton, for example, traded for Devon Levi and signed 36-year-old Frederik Andersen this summer. Unless the Canadiens intend to send Fowler to Laval for additional seasoning, repeating the three-goalie carousel would be difficult to justify.
📌 The NHL schedule is now official, and teams will play 84 games instead of 82 beginning this season. The Montreal Canadiens will open their campaign in Toronto on September 29 before hosting the Carolina Hurricanes in their home opener on October 6. For the first time in several years, Montreal will also enjoy a home-heavy Christmas stretch, which should be welcomed by both players and fans alike.
📌 Finally, circle Saturday, March 6, 2027, on your calendar. That is when Brendan Gallagher returns to the Bell Centre as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. Expect a great tribute video, plenty of emotions, a lengthy standing ovation, and perhaps a few misty eyes in the building. Fourteen seasons in the Bleu, Blanc, Rouge tend to leave a mark, and Gallagher’s certainly did.
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