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Rumour: Montreal Canadiens in a battle with Islanders for Anders Lee

By Omar L

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - APRIL 12: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders skates against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on April 12, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. New York Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - APRIL 12: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders skates against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on April 12, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. New York Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Montreal Canadiens are still trying to add a big name in free agency apparently it’ll be a fight with the New York Islanders to sign Anders Lee.

Matt Duchene was the name for the Montreal Canadiens ahead of July 1st. Artemi Panarin would’ve been a great addition as well, but the price would’ve been high, and given what he ended up signing for, it was. Names have continued to fall off the free market board with a few still out there as options. And according to reports, the Habs are one of the teams still interested in signing Anders Lee.

Lee’s story with the New York Islanders has been a dicey one. Talks with his camp and the Islanders fizzled out, and it looked as if Lou Lamoriello was committed to pursuing Panarin. However, Panarin went on to sign with the New York Rangers.

Since then, Lou has circled back on trying to get Lee to stay on Long Island and Andy Strickland of Fox Sports says the Montreal Canadiens are there as well.

There are two ways to look at this. Lee was a player who many felt only produced thanks to the efforts of John Tavares when he was still on the team. But with a ‘C’ on his sweater, Lee put up 28 goals and 23 assists. It’s a good total for a player he has a heavy style to his game and again, his play below the goal line and in the crease, especially after moving out Andrew Shaw, would be an asset to the Habs.

The issue is, as it is with any free agent signing, is the contract Lee wants. The initial ask was apparently around the $7 million mark, but Aaron Potzline of The Athletic has that number increased to north of $9 million.

There is absolutely no justifying that contract if he comes to the Montreal Canadiens on that kind of cap hit. Anders Lee hasn’t done enough in his career to warrant that kind of money and it would put a lot of things out of order on the team when it comes to signing their own players.

Offer Sheet or Trade for Aho?. dark. Next

We’ll have to wait and see how the rest of this plays out and if the Habs end up coming out on top. It would be a good win for Bergevin and the rest of the front office; however, they’ve been burned before on free agency before via Karl Alzner. Adding an impact forward is important, but context is everything here.

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