Six moves the Montreal Canadiens need to make this offseason

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.

Third Move

Third on my list would be not to re-sign Jordie Benn. Benn had a strong season for the Habs this year rebounding quite well after a disastrous season last year and a pretty bad start this season.

With that being said, Benn’s contract expires July 1, and he will definitely be looking for an upgrade on his current $1.1 million AAV. I think he is going to get that upgrade likely around $2.5 million AAV. I just don’t think the Montreal Canadiens should be the team to give him that contract.

If Marc Bergevin succeeds in doing his job and adding a top-four defenceman to this roster, then Kulak, who is an RFA this summer, could be slotted nicely into the third pair with Noah Juulsen while Christian Folin is serving as the extra D-man.

There is a log-jam of depth defencemen on this team, and there simply aren’t enough minutes to go around for everyone if Bergevin adds an established top-four.

Fourth Move

Fourth on my list is signing Max Domi to a contract extension this summer.

Without factoring in Domi’s 72-point season, his importance to the Canadiens hasn’t been hard to miss. It is so easy to see how happy that kid is to be a Montreal Canadien, and in a short amount of time, he has come in here and embodied what it means to be a Canadien, and the pressure of playing in the Hockey Mecca of the world hasn’t fazed him one bit.

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He goes out there every night and gives it his 100%. He leaves everything he has on the ice each and every shift. He is hard working in the defensive zone, strong away from the puck, doesn’t shy away from hard puck battles and playing physical along the boards, and he always seems to be in the right place in the offensive zone.

Then when you factor in his breakout season of 72 points, he seems primed to truly establish himself as a legitimate top-six forward in the NHL. This is the type of player Marc Bergevin is always looking for when he speaks of character players and players with the right attitude.

Don’t be surprised if Bergevin and I see eye-to-eye on this one (this doesn’t happen very often), and the Habs GM does his best to lock Domi up long term. It also doesn’t hurt that Domi said at the end of the season that he hopes to be a Hab for life!

Fifth Move

Fifth on my list is the draft. As things stand right now, the Canadiens will head to the draft in June with three picks in the first two rounds: the 15th pick in the first round and two picks in the second round.

There are two scenarios here for me. I have said in the past that I would be in favour of trading the 15th overall pick to bring in immediate help, whether that be a top-six scoring forward or an established top-four defenceman. The second scenario – and when looking at Bergevin’s track record, the most likely – would be the team keeping the picks they have right now.

Regardless of whether the team has three or two picks in the first two rounds, I would like to see the team address two of their biggest needs by drafting a scoring forward with and a left-handed defenceman who both have the potential to be key contributors in the NHL.

If the team stands pat and holds on to the15th pick, I would love to see them draft Philip Broberg if he is still available. I think Broberg would be a perfect fit for the Canadiens moving forward. The left-handed smooth-skating defenceman handles the puck very well and comes with a heavy shot that can get pucks through in the offensive zone. Did I mention he was left-handed?

Sixth Move

The last thing on my list would be to figure out what the team is going to do with Karl Alzner.

I don’t think there is a team out there that would be willing to take Alzner off the Canadiens’ hands without Montreal including a top prospect and a draft pick. That really isn’t worth it.

I think the most likely and logical outcome is that the Canadiens are going to buy out Karl Alzner this summer. His signing simply hasn’t worked out, and it is time to cut their losses and buy him out. Ken MacMillan recently wrote a piece outlining what an Alzner buy out would look like the for Canadiens, I’d like to invite you to go check it out.

Who knows whether Bergevin attempts any of the moves here, but it may be advantageous too if he wants to guarantee the Montreal Canadiens a spot in the playoffs next year and for the years to come.