The Montreal Canadiens have been fairly quiet in free agency thus far. They signed Ben Chiarot and Keith Kinkaid, but should be trying to sign Patrick Maroon as well.
The Montreal Canadiens had lots of cap space to play with heading into free agency. They signed a few depth pieces like Ben Chiarot, Nick Cousins and Keith Kinkaid as well as minor league scorers Phil Varone and Riley Barber.
They still have money available and though the free agent market is drying up, there are still a number of interesting free agents available to the highest bidder. One of them that the Canadiens should be interested in is Patrick Maroon.
The Habs are set in goal with Carey Price returning and Keith Kinkaid expected to take over the backup role. Signing Chiarot seems to have completed their group of defensemen for next season as well. With Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Noah Juulsen and Christian Folin on the right side and Chiarot joined by Victor Mete, Brett Kulak and Mike Reilly on the left side.
I won’t argue that is the best crop of blue liners in the league, but there are enough options to make three solid defense pairings.
Up front, the Habs return most of their forwards, aside from Andrew Shaw and Nicolas Deslauriers who were both traded on the eve of free agency. Ryan Poehling should fill one of the openings, but is Nick Cousins really an upgrade on Deslauriers?
If the roster remains the same as today heading into next season, their lines could look something like this:
The top nine is okay, but contrary to what Marc Bergevin‘s haters will tell, he has not acquired 17 players that are ideal for the fourth line. He has Ryan Poehling who could crack the lineup out of camp and is he wants to play center it will have to be on the fourth line.
He re-signed Jordan Weal who played well at the end of last season scoring ten points in 16 games with the Canadiens after being acquired for Michael Chaput. That gives the Habs two options on the fourth line, assuming the 20-year-old Poehling is ready for the NHL full time.
The third option for the fourth line will be a battle between Dale Weise, Matthew Peca, Nate Thompson and Nick Cousins. Weise and Peca proved not to be effective enough last season to keep the job, Thompson showed he could win face-offs but not much else and Cousins who played 81 games for the Arizona Coyotes last season and scored 27 points.
So right now, the best formation for the fourth line is Cousins, Poehling and Weal. Any injuries to a forward would lead to Thompson or Peca needing to be inserted into the lineup after not being effective last season.
So the Habs could use another veteran depth forward. As you can see above, they have about $6 million in available cap space so they would have no problem fitting in a player like Patrick Maroon to provide depth.
Maroon is a large winger at 6’3″ and 225 pounds. He scored ten goals and 28 points in 74 games for the St. Louis Blues last season. He played a third line role for the Blues and was a huge presence on the forecheck as they marched their way to the Stanley Cup last month.
He had just seven points in 26 playoff games but brought a physical element that wore down opposition defenders throughout each series. If you look at the Canadiens forwards, they lack that physicality that Maroon brings. Their most punishing forwards last season were arguably Shaw and Deslauriers and both are heading to the western conference next season.
Maroon would bring the tenacious forecheck and general nastiness that Shaw brought last season. He would also be the only player on the team that has won a Stanley Cup in the past which would be valuable leadership and experience to a locker room with several young players.
Maroon just played out a one-year contract with his hometown Blues for $1.75 million. He would probably be looking to return to the Blues, but it is the middle of July and no deal has been worked out yet. If they can’t come to an agreement, the Canadiens should be calling him up to make an offer that would bring much needed leadership, experience and grit to the lineup next season.