Canadiens: What If The PWHL Expansion Rules Happened In The NHL

Since the PWHL announced its expansion rules, social media has been taken over by fans of the original six markets who are shocked by how favourable the rules are to the new franchises. In a nutshell, each of the original six franchises can only protect three players. They can add a fourth player once they’ve lost two to expansion teams.

Now, I know this wouldn’t happen in the NHL as any expansion team gets to pick its lineup from the league’s other 32 teams, but just for discussion’s sake, if Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes had to do the exercise Daniele Sauvageau will soon undertake for the Montreal Victoire, who would he pick?

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It stands to reason that Hughes would elect to protect his captain, Nick Suzuki, but after that, it gets complicated. Cole Caufield has proven to be a perfect complement for the captain, but will Ivan Demidov eventually perform better than Caufield? Would he protect a projection rather than a player who has shown he can already perform in the NHL? What we’ve seen from Demidov so far has been impressive, and he instantly became a fan favourite.

Of course, protecting both would be possible, but then he would expose both Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky. I don’t see a scenario where Hughes would be willing to let Hutson go. So, if he were faced with these tough decisions, I think he would likely protect Suzuki, Demidov, and Hutson. This means he would probably lose Caufield and Slafkovsky before being able to protect a fourth player, which would probably be Kaiden Guhle. At least Jacob Fowler wouldn’t have to be protected since he’s in Laval.

That would set the rebuild back years. The PWHL fans' outcry over the last 24 hours is perfectly understandable. Sauvageau has built a good team even though it has been unable to move past the first round of the playoffs so far. However, only being able to protect three of Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Anne-Renee Desbiens, Erin Ambrose, and Cayla Barnes is pure torture. The Victoire also has Jennifer Gardiner, the player who won the accuracy skill competition at the last Canadiens’ skill competition, smashing the four targets faster than anyone else, including Habs players.

The next time there’s an expansion draft in the NHL, whatever the protection list parameters are, remember it could be much worse.