Arpon Basu

Montreal

Editor-in-Chief, The Athletic Montreal at The Athletic

Senior columnist on the Canadiens for @TheAthleticNHL. Father of three, husband of one. My views and no one else's, obviously. Banner photo: @bernardbrault

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Articles

Canadiens hope to escape NHL’s middle, but so does every team

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

Everyone just watched the Florida Panthers ride the play of the two Sams to the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive season. The Panthers acquired Sam Reinhart from the Buffalo Sabres at the 2021 NHL Draft for a first-round pick and goaltending prospect Devon Levi. They acquired Sam Bennett two months earlier for Emil Heineman and a second-round pick, and even got a sixth-round pick back from the Calgary Flames for the trouble. Reinhart and Bennett were the Nos.
Submit your Canadiens questions for Arpon Basu's mailbag

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

By Arpon BasuThis is the calm before the NHL's annual storm. The Stanley Cup will be awarded this week. Next week, the Montreal Canadiens have the Nos. 16 and 17 picks in the NHL Draft. Days later, on July 1, free agency opens. The Canadiens will look to improve their roster so they can build on this season's playoff appearance when the 2025-26 season opens in the fall. What's on your mind? Submit your questions here, and Arpon Basu may answer them in an upcoming Canadiens mailbag.
Canadiens likely to continue mining NHL Draft for size and physicality

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Windsor Spitfires centre Jack Nesbitt was sitting on a stool after his successful physical testing at the NHL Scouting Combine on Saturday morning, talking casually about why the Montreal Canadiens appeared, in his view, to like him as a prospect. His response was very matter-of-fact, very self-aware, and somewhat revelatory of what the Canadiens are likely looking for in this draft, and not just from Nesbitt. "I think they like how big I am," Nesbitt said.
Why Canadiens rookie Lane Hutson's Calder Trophy win is just the beginning

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

Lane Hutson winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year is easy to justify by looking at numbers on a screen. But his true value to the Montreal Canadiens can be found elsewhere: in the desire behind those numbers and his motivation for producing them. It has nothing to do with the Calder Trophy. It has to do with another trophy. When Hutson was asked Tuesday what he's most proud of accomplishing in his rookie NHL season, the historic nature of his statistics did not come up.
What I heard and saw from the Canadiens at the NHL scouting combine

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Every year, around this time, people start discussing the potential movement at the NHL Draft, how the ground seems fertile for blockbuster trades and shifts in the NHL landscape. And every year, there is far less movement than expected. The Canadiens are hoping to change that this year. But so are a bunch of other teams. And several of them are hoping to use the same currency that the Canadiens are using, namely draft picks and prospects, to find more immediate help.
How Pascal Vincent is helping the Canadiens' team-building process from below in Laval

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

LAVAL, Que. - A few minutes after Pascal Vincent left his final press conference of an extraordinary first season behind the Laval Rocket bench early Thursday morning, the Boston Bruins announced the hiring of Marco Sturm as their new head coach. For a brief time, it marked the closing of the NHL head coaching carousel, and with it, appeared to ensure Vincent would be back in his native Laval next season, helping to support the ongoing team-building exercise of the Montreal Canadiens.
Lane Hutson's next contract with Canadiens is minefield that might need to wait

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

As the Montreal Canadiens work on organizing their financial structure for the coming seasons in a rising salary-cap world, there are two players' contracts they will need to plan for that are somewhat abstract. The first is Lane Hutson, and the second is Ivan Demidov. The Canadiens are still a year away from needing to worry about Demidov's contract, and he still has a lot to prove. But in Hutson's case, he could sign a new contract as of July 1, and he has already proven a lot at the NHL level.
Trade candidates

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

Montreal Canadiens management made it clear from Day 1 that this season was about collecting information. The desire to be in the mix, to play meaningful games, the playoff appearance - all of it was to collect information and identify the long-term holes that require filling. That day, general manager Kent Hughes began a new phase of the rebuild centred on team-building, not simply indiscriminate asset acquisition.
The Canadiens took a big step

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

MONTREAL - Throughout their regime, going on more than three years now, Montreal Canadiens executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes have tried their best to toe the line between transparency and protecting proprietary information. In other words, they want their fans to be informed while preventing the other 31 teams in the NHL from knowing too much about their plans.
Nick Suzuki's Olympic dreams, perspective on Patrik Laine, Arber Xhekaj's development and more

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Arpon Basu

Nick Suzuki made it sound like the decision was out of his hands. A year ago, Suzuki opted not to play for Team Canada at the men's world championship despite the Montreal Canadiens missing the playoffs. He was left off the Canadian team that won the 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament he said was a bit difficult for him to watch on television, knowing he was in the running to make that team, especially with the early games being played at his home rink.