The Montreal Canadiens, like any other team, are always looking to upgrade their roster. The Habs are rumoured to be interested in Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Juuso Riikola, but would he be the right fit?
The Montreal Canadiens have long needed to upgrade their left defense. In the summer of 2017, they lost Andrei Markov to the KHL, Alexei Emelin to the expansion draft and traded Nathan Beaulieu to the Buffalo Sabres as well as top prospect Mikhail Sergachev to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
They haven’t properly replaced that quartet since then. The Habs general manager Marc Bergevin has tried to fill the void, but he has a lot more misses than hits when it comes to acquiring left defensemen in the past few years.
His immediate answer was to sign Karl Alzner to a five year contract, sign 39 year old Mark Streit, trade for David Schlemko and give Jordie Benn a chance to be a top four defenseman. Can you imagine? Expecting Benn and Alzner to be top four defenders in 2017 and hoping an ancient Streit could replace Markov on the power play?
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None of those moves worked out. Depth signings like Joe Morrow, Brandon Davidson and Jakub Jerabek did not bear fruit either. That left him still searching to fill that position heading into last season.
Bergevin was able to acquire Brett Kulak for a minimal price tag from the Calgary Flames and he looks like a top four defender. He also signed Ben Chiarot, a hulking, defensive player like Alzner and Benn to a three year deal this past summer. Kulak may look great, but Chiarot has not immediately found chemistry with his new team.
Victor Mete has been playing most of the top pairing minutes on the left side next to Shea Weber, but that is more out of necessity than merit. Mete is fast and skilled, but it would be a bit of a stretch to call him a top-pairing defender in the National Hockey League. At least not yet. The 21 year old could one day be an elite defender, but his defensive game isn’t quite there right now.
So that leaves the Canadiens with a weak left side of their defense. It should come as no surprise, but Elliotte Friedman mentioned in his weekly 31 Thoughts column yesterday that the Habs are “keeping an eye on left-shot defenders.” He also mentions they took a look at Pittsburgh Penguins defender Juuso Riikola.
I don’t think that Riikola makes a lot of sense for the Canadiens. First of all, I don’t know how they “took a look” at him this year as he has been a healthy scratch for every Penguins game.
Riikola is a 25 year old left shooting defenseman who made his NHL debut last season. Before that, he was playing in Liiga where he was an assistant captain and had seasons of 24 and 25 points in 59 games. He is an average sized offensive-minded defenseman, but his scoring ability didn’t follow him to Pittsburgh.
The native of Joensuu, Finland had five points in 37 games for the Pens a year ago, and was unable to cement himself as a regular in their top six. The Penguins are currently carrying a couple of extra defensemen so it makes sense they will be looking to move one, I just don’t see Riikola upgrading the Habs roster.
If the Habs are going to make a move for a left defenseman, it only makes sense if it is a big fish. Riikola is a depth piece and the Habs already have plenty of those. Behind Mete, Kulak and Chiarot they already have Mike Reilly, Xavier Ouellet and Karl Alzner in the organization.
If injuries strike, they can count on that trio to step in and play a few games, they don’t need to trade an asset for someone to be their eighth defender. They may as well call up Otto Leskinen and give him a look before trading for another team’s healthy scratch.
Perhaps I’m greedy, but if the Canadiens are going to acquire a defenseman it should be someone who can play 20 minutes per night with Shea Weber. Not someone who will play on the third pairing and be scratched frequently.
Bergevin is obviously looking around the league at left defensemen, let’s just hope he is keeping an eye on players like Nick Leddy and Shayne Gostisbehere instead of Juuso Riikola.