The Montreal Canadiens have lots of cap room this summer they could use in free agency. Buying free agents on July 1 has led to lots of regret in the past and the Habs should be wary of Wayne Simmonds.
The Montreal Canadiens have lots of cap space to play with this summer. It is a valuable commodity around the league and the Habs should be careful with how they use it. Jumping into the free agent frenzy can often leave a team feeling regret in the near future.
The Habs latest big free agent signing was Karl Alzner. He has three years left on a five year deal and spent most of last season in the minor leagues. His $4.625 million cap hit is a huge eyesore on the team’s otherwise impressive payroll.
General Manager Marc Bergevin has done a fine job convincing players to re-sign to deals that are easy for the team to tolerate. The highest paid forward currently is Jonathan Drouin at just $5.5 million per season. I know that is a lot of money, but when it comes to an NHL team’s payroll, that is not the biggest number on most teams.
The Canadiens have mostly stayed on the sidelines on July 1st since Bergevin took over. He has signed players like Brandon Prust, Colby Armstrong, Alex Auld, Matthew Peca and Francis Bouillon over the years. That’s why it was fairly surprising when he spent large money on Alzner. It’s just not how Bergevin has chosen to build his team and then it blew up in his face.
In fact, assuming Peca and Alzner get sent to the minors to start next season and the Canadiens sign a backup that is an upgrade over Charlie Lindgren, there won’t be a single player on the roster that was acquired via free agency.
Bergevin would be wise to continue this strategy this summer. He is rumoured to be in on several free agents, but you are almost guaranteed to overpay when you go after someone on the open market in July. The last thing Montreal needs after years of being cap-savvy is to end up with the next Milan Lucic type contract.
That is exactly what would happen if they get into the bidding war for Wayne Simmonds. The physical right winger was once an excellent two-way power forward. Unfortunately for him, he is hitting free agency at the worst time in his career.
Simmonds had career highs of 32 goals and 60 points in 2015-16. This season, he scored a total of 17 goals and 30 points in 79 games. He struggled mightily after a trade to the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline. Simmonds scored just one goal and three points in 17 games with the Preds.
Still, someone this summer is going to look at his physicality, his net-front presence that once existed and his two-way game this is dwindling and offer him a huge contract. Before Lucic signed his seven year contract with a $6 million cap hit with the Edmonton Oilers, there were signs he was slowing down and wasn’t the same player that dominated opponents with the Boston Bruins.
He had a solid season with the Los Angeles Kings before hitting the open market, scoring 20 goals and 55 points while playing the left side on Anze Kopitar’s line. He was 28 years old at the time and the Oilers paid him on past performance, hoping he could somehow be as good at 34 as he was at 24.
It couldn’t have worked out worse for the Oilers. Lucic has four years left and has not been able to help the team for the past two years. He simply isn’t fast enough for today’s game and can’t be an effective scorer because of it. There were signs he was slowing down during his last year in Boston and his one season with the Kings. Edmonton chose to ignore the red flags and hope he would continue to play a physical two-way game. They have been regretting that decision ever since.
The same red flags are appearing with Simmonds, but apparently the Canadiens have been in contact with him during the free agent negotiation period. If they could sign the 25 year old version of Simmonds, he’d be a perfect fit. The Habs could use a physical, goal scoring, power play threat who is a right shooting right winger.
The 30 year old Simmonds is unfortunately a shadow of his former self. His skating was never a strength but it has recently become a huge detriment. Due to his past performance and name recognition, someone is going to offer him a long term contract.
It probably won’t be quite Lucic money, but don’t be surprised to see Simmonds get a four or five year deal from a desperate general manager that thinks Simmonds will find a time machine this summer and be a 30 goal scoring two-way threat again next season.
Let’s just hope it’s not the Montreal Canadiens who go after the rapidly aging winger. If he wanted a one year contract he’d be worth the risk, but multiple years just don’t make sense for him at this point in his career.