The Montreal Canadiens began a rebuild or retool or reconciliation with the fanbase, whatever you want to call it, about a year ago. They had dropped to fourth last in the NHL standings and with a little lottery luck ended up with the third overall pick in the NHL Draft.
That meant drafting Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but a few other moves also helped jumpstart the reconstruction. First, the Habs traded Alex Galchenyuk who was a fan favourite but hadn’t lived up to his potential. They received Max Domi back in that trade and he immediately proved he could handle the role of first line center in Montreal.