Inside look at Montreal Canadiens

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Montreal Canadiens.

The Montreal Canadiens hope that Sean Monahan and the rest of their youthful roster will remain healthy enough to make some progress in the increasingly competitive Atlantic Division.

Monahan signed a one-year contract to return for a second season with Montreal on June 20, passing up the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent. The 28-year-old forward had 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 25 games for the Canadiens in 2022-23 and didn't play after Dec. 5 because of a lower-body injury.

Montreal, which was 13-12-2 when Monahan went down, was ravaged by injuries that decimated a lineup featuring a host of young defensemen such as Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic and Justin Barron with little to no previous NHL experience. The Canadiens finished 28th in the NHL at 31-45-6.

"We had a lot of injuries last year, so you never know where the team actually could have went," Monahan said. "Coming in healthy with everybody in the lineup it's going to be exciting. And they've done a great job building the team and the style of play we're going to be playing."

New forward Alex Newhook, who had 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 82 games last season, is looking forward to playing for coach Martin St. Louis. He was acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on June 27 and signed a four-year contract on July 11.

"I think Montreal's style fits my game pretty well, playing off the rush," Newhook said. "I'm a guy that likes to attack with speed in every area of the game and I think being able to bring that speed to a rush-attacking team and a team that likes to play transition, I think it's exciting, yeah. I think it'll be good for me, and it will be good for the team to just kind of have another guy that can play off the rush and create offense."

Like Monahan, Newhook is able to play center and wing, which adds more flexibility up front.

Veteran defensemen Mike Matheson and David Savard will continue to help show the way for Guhle and company, who will be front and center again this season on defense after veteran Joel Edmundson was traded to the Washington Capitals on July 1.

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes hopes that Edmundson's leadership and Stanley Cup experience (St. Louis Blues, 2019) will linger with his young defensemen.

"We're young on defense, we were often young last season," Hughes said. "We think our young players gained a lot of experience last season because of the injuries and they're ready for more of a workload this year."

Hughes has yet to speak about the assets the Canadiens acquired in a three-team trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks on Aug. 6, which included defenseman Jeff Petry, goalie Casey DeSmith and forward prospect Nathan Legare, but made it clear youth will be served on the back end, which has an abundance of prospects in the pipeline.

The Canadiens added to that young group on Tuesday when they acquired 24-year-old defenseman Gustav Lindstrom from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade for the 35-year-old Petry.

"The most important thing is not to block our young players," Hughes said July 1. "If we go get a player who is 32 or 33 years old who could help us for a year or two, is that going to harm the chances of a young player to progress and develop in our lineup who will be with us for years in the future?"