A month after the Montreal Canadiens season ended and Marc Bergevin is already preparing for next year, but there are six moves he must make over the summer.
Almost every fan is guilty of playing Armchair GM at some point. I mean, who doesn’t like playing General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens? With that in mind, I thought I would take a shot at it and see where it leads me and outline six moves that I think GM Marc Bergevin should make this offseason.
In no particular order here are the moves that I think Marc Bergevin needs to make this offseason:
- Sign a top-six forward
- Sign or trade for a top-four defenceman
- Do not re-sign Jordie Benn
- Sign Max Domi to a contract extension
- Draft a scoring forward and a defenceman
- Figure out what to do with Karl Alzner
First Move
The Habs need to address the glaring need for a top-six forward. According to Daily Faceoff, the Montreal Canadiens sent out a top-six forward group that looked like this in the latter half of the season:
Tomas Tatar/Phillip Danault/Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen/Max Domi/Andrew Shaw
Realistically Jonathan Drouin should slot into the top-six on a regular basis, but his play down the stretch was simply unacceptable. For me, Max Domi would ideally be put back on the wing with the addition of a true top-six centre.
If the opportunity presents itself come July 1, Bergevin should make every play possible to bring in Matt Duchene if he hits the open market. If I had my way, this would be my top-six come opening night next season:
Max Domi/Matt Duchene/Jonathan Drouin
Tomas Tatar/Jesperi Kotkaniemi/Brendan Gallagher
Realistically, I understand that this probably won’t happen. The coaching staff really likes Phillip Danault, and I don’t think they would be ready to slot him into the third line centre role which would be his ideal spot.
Even if the coaching staff prefers to keep Danault in the top-six, keeping Kotkaniemi as the third-line centre wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing in the world. It is no secret that the Canadiens struggle and have struggled to score goals, and I think the addition of a true top-six forward such as Matt Duchene would do wonders for this team.
If Matt Duchene is available come July 1, I would be ready and willing to offer Matt Duchene a seven-year contract at $8.5-9 million per. If anyone has seen his play for Columbus during the playoffs, you’ll know he is a top-end player that immediately improves any team’s forward group.