Canadiens Off Season: 5 Free Agents to Avoid
Free Agency seems to be the most likely avenue in which the Canadiens can improve the roster but who should they avoid?
Ah, NHL free agency. The time of year where calm, cool and collected NHL GM’s somehow lose their minds once a year. It is at this time that we get insane contracts like the 7 year/$36.75 million dollar deal David Clarkson signed with the Leafs.
And who can forget when the New York Rangers signed Chris Drury and Scott Gomez to 5 and 7 year deals worth $35.35 million and $51.5 million respectively in 2007? I know Canadiens’ fans wish the Rangers would have kept one of those mistakes.
Free Agent Frenzy has been toned down in recent years. This isn’t due to GM’s suddenly becoming smarter. It’s actually because no real worthwhile free agents have been available.
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Which brings us to the 2016 off-season. Right now, teams are preparing for the NHL draft but just a few days after that is done, free agency will be on everyone’s mind.
We’ve already covered the big names such as Kyle Okposo, Andrew Ladd and the most obvious candidate, Steven Stamkos. I even provided reasons why Alexander Radulov would make sense, much to the chagrin of most. The point of highlighting these players is that they obviously fill a glaring need for the Canadiens.
So today, I’m going to go a different route and highlight 5 players who the Canadiens should NOT pursue. These players are either past their prime or have been ineffective in recent years. They are also expected to sign relatively lucrative contracts.
Next: LW/RW David Perron