The Montreal Canadiens head into the offseason with a lot of cap space and some specific needs on the roster. One team that could be losing some key contributors is the New York Islanders, and the Habs could be the beneficiary.
The Montreal Canadiens have a desperate need on left defence. That is not a secret. However, they could also use another top six forward to shore up the offence. The Habs were good at even strength this season but had an awful powerplay that could use some help.
One way to upgrade the roster without giving up anything is to be active July 1st and sign free agents. Hopefully, the Montreal Canadiens management team was keeping a close eye on the New York Islanders this season, as they have a trio of forwards who could help.
Brock Nelson would make an interesting add to the Canadiens this summer. In the past five seasons, he has scored 20 goals four times. The only time he failed to reach the 20-goal plateau, he finished with 19.
The Warroad, Minnesota native is 27 years old, so he has lots of good hockey left in him. He’s also a physical presence at 6’3″ and 213 pounds and is coming off a 25 goal and 53 point campaign. Nelson is capable of playing centre or left wing which would be good flexibility for the Habs with Max Domi‘s permanent position yet to be determined.
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Anders Lee is another Islander that is heading into unrestricted free agency. He is the best goal scorer of the trio, and probably the best option to upgrade the powerplay. This would make him the best fit with Montreal, but also the most expensive.
In five full NHL seasons, Lee has scored 25 goals four times. He maxed out at 40 in the 2017-18 season and at 29 years of age and is certainly capable of hitting 30 again in the near future. He is hitting free agency after a 28 goal and 51 point season.
Ten of Lee’s goals came with the man advantage which ranked 26th in the NHL. This was a huge trouble spot for the Canadiens this season, so Lee would help fill a huge void. He is a big body at 6’3″ and 231 pounds and looked great in a first-round sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lee is due for a massive raise from his current $3.75 million cap-hit. The Canadiens sure have the cap space, but they could find themselves in a bidding war for the services of a hulking sniper.
The third Islanders forward set to hit the market this summer is Jordan Eberle. The Regina, Saskatchewan native is up for a new contract at the wrong time. He had the worst offensive season of the trio and the lowest point total of his career including a 48 game season in 2013.
Eberle’s 37 points don’t jump off the page, but he would probably be the best fit on the Habs roster out of the three Isles forwards. Montreal has good depth at centre with Phillip Danault, Max Domi, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling on the way. They also have solid left wingers in Jonathan Drouin, Tomas Tatar, Paul Byron and sometimes Artturi Lehkonen, though he also plays the right side.
Where the Habs are the weakest is on the right wing, which is Eberle’s position. They have Brendan Gallagher at the top, but Andrew Shaw, Lehkonen, Joel Armia don’t have the consistent offence to be top six wingers.
Eberle would fit great alongside Domi and Drouin. This would allow the Tatar, Danault and Gallagher trio to remain together. The Finnish line of Kotkaniemi, Lehkonen and Armia would then continue to get favourable matchups. That still leaves an impressive fourth line of Byron, Shaw and eventually Poehling in the middle, with Jordan Weal filling the role until Poehling is ready.
Eberle has cracked the 20-goal mark six times in his career. He has reached 60 points on three separate occasions, and as recently as 2017-18 he had 59 points. He could hit those high marks once again in a Habs uniform with Drouin and Domi on his line.
Any of those three Islanders would be upgrades to the Habs top six. I’m guessing one, or maybe two of them will return to Long Island (or is it Brooklyn?) before July 1st. However, I sure hope the Montreal Canadiens management team was keeping a close eye on the Islanders this season, because their next top-six forward could be coming from Brooklyn. Yeah, they play in Brooklyn, right?