Montreal Canadiens: Could Shayne Gostisbehere Be On Their Radar?
The Montreal Canadiens have a huge need on left defence. Free agency is risky, and drafting takes time. A trade might be the best way to fill the obvious need, and Shayne Gostisbeher is the top LD on the market.
The Montreal Canadiens need help on left defence. That is certainly not a secret. Victor Mete looks like a solid top-four defenceman and Brett Kulak had an impressive first season in Montreal. Neither of those players are guaranteed to be able to play on the top pairing this season.
The Habs need someone else to play on the left side and could use a top pairing guy. This would put Mete in on the second pairing and push Kulak to the third pairing. This would slot them perfectly and wouldn’t force the young blue liners to play out of their comfort zone.
The problem is finding someone to fill the role as Shea Weber‘s partner. Ideally, the Habs would find someone who is about 25 years old, is already under contract for multiple seasons, can move the puck and help out on the power play.
The Habs have the 15th overall pick and could use that on a defenceman. Thomas Harley, Cam York, Ville Heinola and Philip Broberg could all be available when the Habs take the podium. However, it would take a few years for a mid first round pick to develop into a top defender. The Canadiens don’t have that much time to wait for a teenager to fill the void.
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The Canadiens also have Alexander Romanov in the pipeline. He was one of the best defensemen at the World Junior Championship last season and cracked a solid KHL lineup at the age of 18. However, he is signed for at least one more year in Russia and won’t be in Montreal this season.
Free agency is another chance to upgrade the team. The Habs will head into the bidding wars with significant cap space. However, the only player who checks all the aforementioned boxes is Jake Gardiner. He will be looking for a huge payday as the top LD available on the market. Gardiner scored 30 points in 62 games this season and narrowly avoided back surgery. Overpaying in free agency for his services might not be the wisest choice.
That leaves the trade market as the only option for the Canadiens to fill their need. If you look at TSN’s trade bait board, one name jumps out as the perfect fit, and that is Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere.
The American defenceman is coming off a bit of a down year. He scored 37 points in 78 games after setting a career high with 65 points in 2017-18. At 26 years of age, and playing on the top pairing with the Habs, he could return to a 50+ point defenceman.
Gostisbehere would fill a huge void in Montreal and slot in beside Shea Weber. That would push Mete down to the second pairing with Jeff Petry and Kulak on the third pairing with Noah Juulsen. That is a great group of blue liners.
Though Gostisbehere would play a big role in Montreal, he is a bit redundant in Philadelphia. The reason he is on trade bait lists and his name is thrown around in trade rumours is because the Flyers have several similar players.
Gostisbehere is a left shot, puck-moving defenceman. So are Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim and Robert Hagg. Philly also have right-handed Phillippe Myers and Radio Gudas on the roster and veteran Andrew MacDonald. With Samuel Morin possibly pushing for a roster spot, they have a crowded blue line.
With a manageable cap hit of $4.5 million for the next four seasons, it would not be difficult to fit Gostisbehere into the Canadiens’ cap structure. However, a 26-year-old defenceman who can skate well, move the puck, put up points and is signed for four years at a reasonable cap hit is not going to be given away by the Flyers.
The Canadiens would have to make a strong offer to convince the Flyers to move Gostisbehere. Putting either winger Jonathan Drouin or their first round pick, 15th overall on the table would certainly get the attention of Philadelphia’s general manager Chuck Fletcher.
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It would be a bit of a tough pill for Habs fans to swallow, but Gostisbehere would fit such a big need for nearly half of a decade on his current contract that it would definitely be worth pulling the trigger for the Montreal Canadiens.