A Winning Habit
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2021 will be the year the dynamic of the Montreal Canadiens changes

By Omar L

OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 20: Montreal Canadiens Right Wing Joel Armia (40) and Montreal Canadiens Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (15) celebrate a goal during first period National Hockey League action between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on October 20, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 20: Montreal Canadiens Right Wing Joel Armia (40) and Montreal Canadiens Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (15) celebrate a goal during first period National Hockey League action between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on October 20, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – MARCH 26: Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Montreal Canadiens have two years to do something special with this current group. When the final game is played, be it in the regular season or the playoffs, Bergevin will have some serious work to do given how many players will need new deals. And it’s not the depth we’re talking about, it’s the names who have defined the organization for some time now.

Hearts on the Sleeve

The team’s entire top line of Brendan Gallagher ($3.75 million), Tomas Tatar ($4.8 million), and Phillip Danault ($3.083 million) will all be unrestricted free agents. It’ll be easier to let Tatar and Danault go, even if they have incredible years with the Montreal Canadiens in that time frame. Gallagher will clearly be the desired target to keep around, but his ask could be huge.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t deserve it. Gallagher is sitting on back-to-back 30-goal seasons and has been one of the team’s leaders for years. If Shea Weber wasn’t wearing the ‘C,’ it would be Gallagher, and he’s the perfect example of what Claude Julien and the rest of the coaching staff try to preach when it comes to hard work and execution.

However, scorers of Gallagher’s ilk are getting numbers in the sevens and eights nowadays, and Bergevin may be willing to part ways if he thinks there are prospects coming who can fill that void.

Finnish Power

May seem harsh to bring this up considering they were just extended, but Lehkonen and Armia will be free agents as well. Lehkonen will still be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights which will help the Habs when it comes to retaining rights. On the other hand, if Lehkonen breaks out offensively over the course of the deal, it might make negotiations tricky. And whether they were false threats or not, Montreal is now an open field for offer sheets after trying to go for Sebastian Aho.

Armia will be an unrestricted free agent and keeping him could be tough. The Montreal Canadiens won’t be in a position by that point to overpay their depth players. The salary cap will likely increase by then, but that doesn’t mean $4 million contracts can be thrown around.

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