Montreal Canadiens: What If Alex Radulov Re-Signed In Montreal?
The Montreal Canadiens took a gamble by bringing Alex Radulov back from Russia. He played great but then signed a long-term deal with the Dallas Stars. What is he stayed in Montreal?
The Montreal Canadiens had a terrible season in 2015-16. Carey Price was injured early in the year and missed all but 12 games, and the team struggled to score enough to win games with Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens in goal. Going from Hart and Vezina Trophy winning Price one season to Condon and Scrivens the next was quite an adjustment.
It resulted in a dramatic drop in the standings after Price’s injury. In the 12 games Price did play, the Habs were 10-2-0. Without him, they were 28-36-6. Most star players have some impact on their team’s record, but no one in recent history was more important to their team’s success than Carey Price when he was at the top of his game.
The Canadiens knew they would have a healthy Price back for the 2016-17 season, but also knew they could use a little more firepower up front. They were not the greatest scoring team and didn’t have a ton of depth at the position. They needed a spark plug at forward who could battle, score goals and help run a power play unit.
They elected to sign Alex Radulov out of the KHL to fill that role. Radulov played one season in Montreal and was terrific. There were a lot of questions surrounding his ability, his work ethic, his passion, what kind of a teammate he would be and if he just wanted to make money or actually win hockey games in his NHL return.
He erased all doubts during his one year in Montreal. Radulov was the perfect teammate, often celebrating as voraciously from then bench when a teammate scored as he would when he put a puck in the net himself.
He played on the Canadiens top line with Max Pacioretty and Phillip Danault. Radulov proved to be a hound on pucks and would often win battles for loose pucks or dig them out of a pile of players. He would set up Pacioretty for scoring chances on a regular basis and Pacioretty always had a penchant for finding the back of the net when someone got him the puck.
Danault acted as the defensive conscience on the line, adding in 40 points, while Pacioretty reached 35 goals and 67 points and Radulov scored 18 goals and 54 points in 76 games. When you think back on Radulov’s time with the Canadiens it seems like he had a bigger impact than a 54 point player. He had a way of lifting fans out of their seats with his dogged determination, stick-handling skills and penchant for coming up with a big play at the right time.
The Canadiens won their division that season but lost in six games in the opening round to the New York Rangers. They had a tough time scoring on Henrik Lunqvist in that series, but Radulov was one of the few players who showed up offensively in all six games. He led the team with seven points while no one else had more than four.
That summer, there was some very public contract negotiations between the Canadiens and Radulov. For a while it seemed like a foregone conclusion he would be back but then he signed a five year contract with the Dallas Stars with an annual cap hit of $6.25 million. The Canadiens apparently offered an identical contract, but the Russian winger chose Dallas.
What if he had of chosen the Canadiens and signed the exact same contract with Montreal?