Montreal Canadiens Need To Fill Void Left By Andrew Shaw
The Montreal Canadiens made a surprising move when they shipped Andrew Shaw back to the Chicago Blackhawks just before free agency opened. They are yet to fill the void, but have the resources to do so.
The Montreal Canadiens lifted a lot of eyebrows around Montreal when they traded Andrew Shaw. The 27 year old winger had his best season offensively this year, scoring 47 points in 63 games. He often filled a role in the top six, playing with Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin.
Shaw brought a physical style that is not common among Habs forwards. He is a gritty winger that can chip in offence and has won two Stanley Cups during his first tenure with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Coming off his best season, Marc Bergevin dealt him back to the Blackhawks for second, third and seventh round draft picks. It’s a decent return for Shaw, but for a team that already had tons of cap space, it led to questions about what big free agent or trade was coming next.
It has been ten days since Shaw was dealt and so far, nothing has come next.
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Shaw played a huge role on the Habs last season and his departure has opened up a gaping hole on right wing. Just tossing lines together here but it is safe to say that the trio of Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher will stay together next season. The “Finnish Line” of Artturi Lehkonen, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia was successful and could be a third line this season.
Max Domi was great at center and will likely play with Jonathan Drouin again, but who will be their right winger? I guess you could break up the Finnish Line and move Armia up, but he scored 23 points in 57 games last season. Lehkonen played all 82 games and finished with 31 points.
Those aren’t exactly the numbers of a top six winger. Ideally, the player playing with Domi and Drouin would have a scoring touch and some creativity to match the pair of skilled 24 year olds he will be playing with.
So, who is going to fill that void? There are a few different options, but it shouldn’t be someone who was on the roster last season. There just isn’t a skilled enough player to jump into that role. Shaw was the best fit on the roster last season, but even he was a bit of a stretch as a top six winger.
The biggest need on the Canadiens this offseason was thought to be a left defenseman. Bergevin signed Ben Chiarot to a three-year deal at $3.5 million to fill that void. He’s not the most exciting player to change teams this offseason, but his defensive presence will help Jeff Petry on the second pairing.
That $3.5 million over three seasons is almost exactly what Shaw was set to earn. He had three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $3.9 million. So, if you think of it as adding a handful of draft picks and swapping Shaw for Chiarot, it’s good value and they filled a hole, but they did so while opening up another.