Montreal Canadiens: Marc Bergevin Scouting the Islanders
By Omar L
Although the Montreal Canadiens had a day off on Monday, GM Marc Bergevin was still at work even finding time to take in an Islanders game.
It’s almost been a full week since the start of the 2017-2018 NHL regular season. It’s safe to say that the Montreal Canadiens haven’t had the start most fans expected which is crazy to say considering it’s only been three games.
Despite the small sample size, there are some things that have been exposing the team. The Habs have only managed to score three goals. Two of them were shorthanded from Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher and none of them are from the power play. Additionally, it’s been difficult at times for them to break out of their own zone.
People look at the Habs then look at the $7.7 million in cap space, then back at the Habs and again at the cap space and think Marc Bergevin will do something. Well for one, if he is going to make any kind of move, it definitely won’t be now. It’s way too early in the season to make a big acquisition, but it’s not too early to start looking.
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The team didn’t practice on Monday after completing a back-to-back over the weekend. Even though they were off, Bergevin was not. The Habs GM decided to spend his day taking in some action between the St. Louis Blues and the New York Islanders.
Now for some of you, a single name jumps out at you. However, there are other players on the team that the Montreal Canadiens could target in a trade down the line.
John Tavares
So this is the obvious option. As good as Jonathan Drouin has been for the Habs so far, adding John Tavares into the fold would be an unbelievable boost. It would also take an unbelievable amount of valuable pieces to get a deal like that done.
The Canadiens definitely have interest in acquiring the center, but it will probably happen in the off-season (assuming he doesn’t resign)
Related Story: Acquiring John Tavares
Calvin de Haan
An early critique has been the team’s blue line. Shea Weber and Victor Mete have been the only two defencemen on the team who have been consistently playing well. Karl Alzner has had his moments as well, but he’s also been the victim of some mistakes.
Personally, I would rather see the Habs call up Brett Lernout or Jakub Jerabek before acquiring a defencemen from another team. That being said, Calvin de Haan is a reliable smooth skating player that rarely makes any mistakes. If Bergevin feels that an upgrade on D is what the team really needs then this could be another player on his radar.
Matthew Barzal
This is a little more left field than the other two. Again, Drouin has been a great addition to the team, but what other offensive-minded centerman do the Habs have? Both Danault and Tomas Plekanec think defence first even though they have the ability to put up points.
Matthew Barzal is young and has outstanding hockey sense. Bergevin mentioned in that TSN interview with Bob McKenzie that acquiring younger players would be a good way to extend the team’s window. The price to acquire him could be lower than the price to add Matt Duchene. It would be risky considering this is his first full NHL season, but Barzal is definitely worth it.
Is this just harmless scouting, or is something in the works? Let us know what you think down below.