Montreal Canadiens: Five “Swinging For The Fences” Moves We Could See This Summer

The Montreal Canadiens roster has been a bit stagnant the past three years. With this being the third consecutive season the team will miss the playoffs, Marc Bergevin is rumoured to be swinging for the fences this year. What could that look like?

The Montreal Canadiens are going to miss the postseason for the third consecutive season. General manager Marc Bergevin would normally be in some hot water after three straight non-playoff years, but it seems him and owner Geoff Molson are very much on the same page and are likely to continue working together into the future.

The Habs roster has been a bit stagnant lately. It seems this is the third straight year we were hoping that basically the same roster would somehow now get into the playoffs. They missed by a wide margin two years ago, just missed last year in a tight wildcard race and are going to miss out his year even though third place in their division has been ripe for the picking all year.

With the chances of playoffs almost nil at the trade deadline, Bergevin moved out a couple of depth pieces to add draft picks. He traded Marco Scandella, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nate Thompson, Matthew Peca and Nick Cousins while bringing back second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh round draft picks as well as a conditional fourth and Aaron Luchuk.

That is not bad business for moving out nearly a half dozen depth pieces that were all likely to leave as free agents in the summer anyway. Bergevin has developed a terrific trade record in his eight years with the Canadiens organization, but it has led to little on-ice success in the past few years.

Following the trade deadline, Pierre Lebrun, who is a writer for The Athletic, but also is an analyst and insider for TSN and does most of the Habs regional games on the network had some interesting comments about the Habs general manager.

Lebrun mentioned in his post-deadline article for The Athletic that Montreal is a team to watch this offseason as a few of Bergevin’s colleagues around the league mentioned that the Habs general manager is going to be “swinging for the fences” this summer.

Bergevin hasn’t really “swung for the fences” so to speak since taking over the Habs. He has made several big trades, but they usually are him trading a good asset for another good asset. He has come out on the right end of these deals, but I wouldn’t put them in this particular category. Like trading P.K. Subban for Shea Weber. Sure it is a huge trade but he dealt a top pairing (at the time) right defenseman for a top pairing (still) right defenseman. Same with the Alex Galchenyuk for Max Domi trade.

So what exactly would “swinging for the fences” look like for Marc Bergevin? Let’s take a look at five possible moves that would fall into this category.

Go hard after the top unrestricted free agents

The most common way general manager’s try to upgrade their team in the summer time is through free agency. Teams can get a little silly that time of year but there are going to be some significant pieces available as free agents this summer that could improve the Habs overnight.

The one way Bergevin can make the Habs better without subtracting anything from his own organization is through free agency.

He could make a huge pitch for Alex Pietranglo who would immediately be the team’s number one right shot defenseman. This would allow the team to ease off Shea Weber’s minutes next year and also give them the chance to trade Jeff Petry an add a few assets in the form of prospects and draft picks.

Sure, Pietrangelo would cost more than Petry, likely asking for more than the $8 million per year that John Carlson recently signed for, but he would be a huge upgrade as well.

Bergevin could also target Torey Krug. The Boston Bruins left defenseman may be a more logical fit than Pietrangelo since there is a bigger immediate need for a top pairing left defender instead of someone on the right side. Krug with Weber would be an excellent top pairing and would allow Ben Chiarot to play on the second pairing with Petry. This would allow a young, but reliable and sturdy third pairing of Alexander Romanov and either Cale Fleury or Victor Mete.

If a forward is at the top of Bergevin’s wish list he could target Taylor Hall. He seems to have been an awkward fit everywhere he’s been aside from one magical season in New Jersey when he won the Hart Trophy. It’s extremely unlikely he re-signs in Arizona where the Coyotes are struggling since acquiring him, but he may be a better fit with workhorse linemates like Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher or Joel Armia.

Where Bergevin needs to target a free agent is in goal. The perfect backups are available and the Habs general manager needs to pony up the cash and bring in either Jaroslav Halak or Anton Khudobin to play 30 games next season and lighten Carey Price‘s workload. There is no sense in “swinging for the fences” if your plan includes playing Price 70 times in the regular season.

4. Trade for Duncan Keith

The Sochi Olympics were a long time ago. However, Duncan Keith and Shea Weber were so dominant that Carey Price could have played most of the semi-finals and gold medal game with shin pads and a first baseman’s glove instead of actual goalie gear and Keith and Weber would have ensured they still didn’t allow a goal against.

Yes, that was six years ago and neither player is a Norris Trophy candidate anymore. However, they can both still play a ton of minutes and make sure things are taken care of in the defensive zone.

When Price is at his best, the Canadiens win games against any team in the league. Price is at his best when the defense in front of him is not allowing a handful of 2-on-1’s each period. The Habs current group of defenders can string together several great games but have a penchant for falling back into many bad habits time and time again.

Enter Duncan Keith. He is not going to score 60 points like he did during his best years, but the 36 year old is still averaging over 24 minutes per game. This would allow Chiarot to play less than the 23:15 per game he has played this season. The Habs rely far too much on their top three of Weber, Petry and Chiarot who are all in the top 30 players in average ice time this season.

Acquiring Keith comes with some risk due to his age, but that would also keep the cost down. He would slot into the top four and bring Chiarot’s minutes down while also bringing his own down slightly from this season’s numbers in Chicago.

Keith’s cap hit is just over $5.5 million for the next three years but he will only make $6.25 million total over those three years so you know Molson would think it’s a great idea. Considering Keith’s age and the Blackhawks desire to look to the future, the Habs could offer the Hawks their second round pick back and a depth prospect like Allan McShane who may not even get signed by the Canadiens because they are approaching their contract limit and have a plethora of prospects that need to be signed.

3. Trade for Jonas Brodin

The Canadiens could use a player like Duncan Keith who has won just about everything and could eat some tough minutes on the left side. However, his age and lengthy contract are a bit of a problem. Age is certainly not an issue for Swedish defender Jonas Brodin.

The 26 year old left shooting defender brings a bit of offence for the Minnesota Wild currently, but is mostly known for terrific defensive play. He has set a career high this year for points with 27, but is not going to be running an NHL power play at any point in his career.

What he can do is play big minutes and shut things down dependably on the penalty kill. The Habs could definitely use someone who can eat big minutes on the left side of the defense next season. The Wild have been rumoured to be trading just about everyone on their roster, and finally moved Jason Zucker before the trade deadline after a few false starts.

They were also rumoured to be close to moving Zach Parise before things fell apart, and if they are willing to move the beloved American left winger, they could be talked into moving Brodin for the right price as well.

He is averaging 21:31 time on ice this season which ranks 62nd among blue liners. He plays a second pairing role on the Wild behind minute muncher Ryan Suter, but would likely be tasked with a top pairing role in Montreal alongside Shea Weber where the two would be shutting down the best players every night.

That is no small feat, but also hasn’t been a problem for Brodin in his career. He used to play his off side on the top pairing with Suter for a while when he was younger but with the emergence of Jared Spurgeon and Matt Dumba on the right side, Brodin was moved back to his natural left side.

The Wild were interested in acquiring picks and prospects in their recent trades. I can’t see why this would be any different than the Zucker trade that netted the Wild a first round pick and prospect Calen Addison. Maybe if the Habs offer up their own second round pick which, will be pretty close to a late first, and a really good prospect like Ryan Poehling it would be enough for Brodin.

1. Make a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames

The Montreal Canadiens have done quite well on the trade front with Bergevin at the helm. We haven’t seen a real blockbuster involving multiple big pieces going in either direction. That could change this summer if Bergevin really wants to swing for the fences.

First off, let’s imagine the Calgary Flames fall out of the race in the Pacific Division and miss the playoffs by a point. It is a tight division and anything is possible right now. The Flames could go on a run in the next five weeks and win the division, or they could struggle a bit and just miss the playoffs. Let’s suppose they miss and want to shake things up.

Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano have been the leaders both on and off the ice in Calgary for several years. They have ben part of some really good teams, but they have only won one playoff round. They were the best team in the western conference last year in the regular season, but lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Colorado Avalanche.

So, if they miss the playoffs this year, it is possible the Flames want to make a big trade to get a different look heading into next season.

They have some great young players like Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Rasmus Andersson, Jusso Valimaki, Noah Hanifin and Sean Monahan. They are all 24 or younger and are already a big piece of the team. They also have a few solid veterans like 36 year old Giordano and though Gaudreau is only 26 he is a veteran and a leader on this team.

If the Flames miss the playoffs this year, it is entirely possible Bergevin could entice them into trading both Giordano and Gaudreau if he offers the right package of young players that could help the Flames in the near future. It would be one step back and then two steps forward for the Flames. It would launch the Habs into immediate contender status.

Giordano was the Norris Trophy winner last season. Yes, he is 36 but he would be an unbelievable partner for Weber on the top pairing. He has 30 points in 57 games this season and still eats minutes in all situations. He averages just under 24 minutes per game and would take the even strength workload off Chiarot’s shoulders. He could help run the power play and be a huge addition to the penalty killing unit as well.

Gaudreau is on pace for 69 points this season and it is a bad year for the 26 year old left winger. He scored 84 points two years ago and had 99 last season. He would transform the Habs power play into a force and also give them their best offensive weapon since Alex Kovalev was at the top of his game.

It would cost a lot to acquire two huge pieces from the Flames. The cost would start with Max Domi and Victor Mete to immediately fill the open vacancies on the Flames roster with younger players that have potential. The Flames would also want the Habs first round pick which is slated to be eighth or ninth overall and a top prospect like Cayden Primeau.

Moving out all those young pieces would be risky for the Habs for sure. But we are told Bergevin is going to be swinging for the fences. You can’t do that if you keep all your cards close to your vest. In order to improve the roster for next season, Bergevin is going to have to risk some of his youth and a top draft pick in a great draft.

We will have to wait and see exactly what Bergevin has planned for this offseason. However, based on what the insiders are saying, it is going to be an interesting offseason for the Montreal Canadiens.