The Montreal Canadiens are taking the right approach by not wasting time
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens have signed seven players already which will give them a good look at their options once the trade and free agent market opens up.
Marc Bergevin has been happily taking the “there’s no time like the present” approach when it comes to handing out contracts to his free agent players. In total, the Montreal Canadiens have resigned seven players to deals. It started with Christian Folin who got a one-year contract for $800,000 (a little over league minimum) and continued on to Nate Thompson, Jordan Weal, Otto Leskinen from Finland, Alex Belzile, Brett Kulak, and as of Monday, Xavier Ouellet.
There is still work to do for the Habs. Getting Kulak signed was the most significant deal so far given his current and future role with the team. However, Bergevin hasn’t been tested that much.
There are ten players left to sign for the Montreal Canadiens, but you could argue that number is closer to six or seven. Jordie Benn is likely out of the picture in the organization, and there’s a chance Mike Reilly is moved at some point as well. Looking at the Laval Rocket, Hunter Shinkaruk didn’t have the flashiest season while an injury shortened the year for Michael McCarron who needed to prove he was worth keeping around.
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If the Habs choose to keep any of those players, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that come out later in the offseason. For now, the focus should be on getting Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia to sign, which will be challenging for different reasons.
Armia had a good debut season in Montreal especially down the stretch setting a career high in goals with 13. Lehkonen’s scoring has been a hot topic, but his production after joining Max Domi and Andrew Shaw may be a reaffirmation of his potential. However, potential is a dangerous word, especially for goal scorers who want to be paid like goal scorers.
The more players Bergevin makes the decisions on, the better the perception he has of the team heading into June and July where player movement talks heat up. If the Habs can have those two key pieces under contract, they’ll have a better understanding of what they can and can’t do.
Montreal’s cap space is an extremely valuable asset, and Bergevin will likely be approached to take on poor contracts and be compensated for it.
The same thing goes for July 1st. Bergevin will have to ensure there’s enough salary to play with if he plans to go in on one of the top free agents available. That’ll take planning, and that’ll take time making the move to sign all these players now and get it over with beneficial.
Next. A Kawhi-like trade for the Habs. dark
Once restricted free agency qualification comes up, we’ll get a better idea of where the Montreal Canadiens sit. For now, Bergevin is taking the right approach in getting these smaller deals done now before moving on to handle the bigger ones. And June is right around the corner.