“It’s still possible that Joe Veleno will be back next year.”

Earlier today, the CH submitted eight qualifying offers. Among them, Kirby Dach, Zachary Bolduc, and Arber Xhekaj are the biggest names to have received one.
In all three cases, this isn't a huge surprise… except perhaps for Dach, but even then.
That said, among those who didn't receive an offer is Joe Veleno. The Habs therefore did not retain the rights to the Quebec native, who performed quite well as the 13th forward last year and wouldn't have cost much to re-sign.
This means that as