Montreal Canadiens Team Celebrating Final Game Of 2011-2012 Season. Photo From US Presswire.

Now with a NHL lockout inevitable the only  factor going forward is how long? With many players still uncertain about their future this year many will be looking elsewhere within a couple of weeks. So a big question a lot of us Hab fans have is where will they be playing hockey? Many players may not be going anywhere as they feel optimistic that the season can get going by Christmas time. Below is a list of the current Hab players by position indicating where they played in 2004-2005 and where they could be playing this year.

Below in the ‘Possible 12-13 Team’ column there are teams/leagues that are coloured in green, yellow, red and none. Green indicates that the player has signed for that team, Yellow indicates there is a strong possibility, No colour indicates there is a neutral chance and Red indicates that there is no chance.

The list above is just an assumption of where the players might play.

For some of the players like Cole, Gionta, Markov, Kaberle and Gomez who are all getting into the later years of their career going overseas may not  be the best thing. It is very possible that these players stay in North America and wait out for the better of the lockout. PK Subban is another interesting story, where I can see him playing overseas in the KHL etc, but at the same token with him not signed up to a contract it may yield him from playing elsewhere. Also for guys like Eller, Emelin, Diaz, Pacioretty, Desharnais, Weber and White a small stint in Europe will most likely not hurt them but instead improve their skills. Once again this list of possible 2012-2013 teams is solely based off of the players track record and rumor interest.

Nevertheless lets stay optimistic and hope that most of these players don’t have to spend a year in another league.

Here is the most current depth chart for the Hamilton Bulldogs by position. Also some projected lines for the upcoming 2012-2013 season.

Dec 1, 2011; San Jose, CA, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Brian Gionta (21) before a face off against the San Jose Sharks during the second period at HP Pavilion. San Jose defeated Montreal 4-3 in shootouts. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Right Wing might be the position that the Habs organization is strongest in. Its the deepest position in the prospect pool and there are two proven RWs in the teams top six forwards. But there is an underlying problem as well. Both Erik Cole and Brian Gionta are old (33 years of age at the start start a putative 12-13 seasons). They are both fast approaching the age where NHL players begin go into terminal decline. While there have been a number of wingers in recent times that have fought off Father Time and retained their abilities until 40 years old like Whitney, Recchi or Selanne, prudence dictates that a team should expect their players to be typical rather than abberations. The Habs currently have no quality RW in their peak (23-28) years, merely the very old and the very young in their system.

Both have retained most of their powers into the later part of their career, Gionta has paced for more than 30 goals per 82 games in Montreal while Cole is just coming off a career season, while both have been effective two-way players So we should expect there to still be years left on the clock, 2-3 seasons sounds about right, which is conveniently the number of years the two of them have left on their contracts. The Habs should probably be prepared for the two of them to not be around anyway, in case they want to jump ship when UFA or to have the option of dealing them at the deadline.

For the bottom six right wings, Montreal is not apt to have a problem. Ryan White is perfect as a 4th RW, as is Prust, then Moen,  Armstrong or Leblanc seem acceptable for the 3rd line role. If any more bottom sixers are required they are fairly easy to acquire

So lets posit two seasons of the Canadiens being set on top six right wingers. Wingers 3 and 4 are generally pretty easy to find so shouldn’t be much worry. What does Montreal have in the system to replace them when those two years are up in 2014-15?

As so often with prospects, the highest upside ones are the youngest and furthest from the NHL (the more uncertaintity the greater chance something good happens). There are a lot of interesting prospects here but none are so great they can be seen as anything close to a sure thing.

The chief advantage Montreal has here is volume. The more good potential players you have, the greater likelihood some of them live up to their upside and the greater chance of an unexpected breakout player (like Pacioretty, Plekanec or Desharnais) comes out from the field.

As of right now I like the odds of at least one of the five best RW prospects is a top six winger two years from now (Palushaj, Kristo, Leblanc, Gallagher and Collberg). 3 of the 5 should be in their prime years (23-28) at that point, Gallagher has been a very impressive junior and may be ready after in two years and Collberg would be coming off an apprenticeship in the SEL that began when he was 17. Getting 2 top six wingers is possible but maybe more than what can be counted on.

Overall, the Habs look to be in a decent position at RW but the age factor could very well leave the team high and dry between the faltering skills of the current players and the inexperience of the prospect pool. Or they could also have a log jam of too much NHL capable talent filling to many slots. Its an interesting situation to watch, not necessarily a problem, potentially a very good position and dependant on an assortment of variables too complex to accurately project at this point.

May 20, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Phoenix Coyotes right wing Shane Doan at a press conference after game four in the Western Conference finals of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center. The Coyotes defeated the Kings 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

The last big name in NHL free agency seems to have settled on his location.

Shane Doan, appeares to have announced an agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes, removing the last major free agency piece from the board.

He also appeared to be the only top six winger the Montreal Canadiens were at all interested in adding this summer. Ex-Hab Andrei Kostitsyn seems to be still available.

To recap who gained and lost from the freedom of player movement this summer:

Franchise cornerstones Zach Parise and Ryan Suter jumped ship together to one of last years worst squads in Minnesota.

Top level sniper and frequent commentator punching bag Alex Semin went a short distance south to shore up the forward group of recent also rans, the Carolina Hurricanes.

Quality puck moving defenseman Matt Carle bolster’s Tampa Bay’s weak defensive corp.

Aging but surprisingly productive wingers Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney went to Dallas.

After failing to make the playoffs yet again, Calgary added both Wideman and Hudler, while their center, Olli Jokinen switched Prarrie cities by going to Winnipeg. Colorado and Anahiem also added new players.

If this off-season had a theme it was free agents moving to non-playoff teams while the cup competitors stood pat and retained their own or lost parts. This even holds true for trades, the only high stature established player a team that finished in the top 4 of their conference was New York’s trade for Rick Nash. The flow of veteran talent has been heavily biased towards the bottom of the league. In general this means there was a leveling effect due to this years transactions. The teams that made the greatest additions seem to be the ones most desperate for the help and the enticement of playing for a contender was not nearly so strong.

Nothing illustrates this better than Minnesota and Carolina, the two squads with the strongest additions to their team. Even with two impact players added, both squads look like they could very well miss the playoffs.

The willingness of the league’s weaker sisters in terms of revenue to shell out new spending was also notable and may be telling on CBA negotiations. The weak teams look hypocritical in crying poor but they also could be cynically looking to sign players to dollar values they expect to be cut in the new CBA deal, effectively bargaining in bad faith.

For Habs fans this also seems to indicate that the roster’s talent will be “as is” whenever hockey resumes again. This presents a great opportunity for some younger talent, but the lack of depth at the winger position, which is the easiest thing for a team to address on free agency is worrying. Bourque seemed to be an inadequate 4th winger already, that he suffered a torn abdominal muscle on top of it.

While the team remains far better than 15th on paper, it looks like new management has decided to be conservative and wait on re-inforcements from the prospect pool and for veteran salaries to begin to expire. This was likely a sensible career move for Marc Bergevin, he looks to push his competitive window later rather than going directly for the playoffs in his first year. Also the team is bound to improve over 15th in a new full season just due to less bad luck.  Bergevin is positioned to take credit for moving in the right direction without doing anything to help the team’s immediate fortunes. Plus a work stoppage could burn a season regardless. If there was a season he was positoned to not care so much about success, it would be 2012-13.

The risk he’s running is falling behind the curve of decline in key veterans faster than youthful improvement lifts them up. 3 critical roster players in Markov, Gionta and Cole are around 33 years old and have few high impact years remaining. These are more players that may need replacing in any youth movement.