Montreal Canadiens: Which Unrestricted Free Agents Would Habs Be Pursuing Today?
2. Mattias Janmark
Now, the rumours around the top free agents will surely fly with the Habs having lots of cap space and the salary cap not increasing like many thought it would. There will only be a few teams that can afford to take on the big contracts in the offseason, but there are too many barriers in Montreal to reasonably believe they can attract the top guys.
It would be great if the Habs were to sign Taylor Hall, Torey Krug and Alex Pietrangelo and forgot about the future cap issues it would cause. However, this isn’t a video game so you can’t just spend to the cap every year and then solve your problems by trading away overpriced guys at the draft for picks.
If we are being realistic, we have to look at what Bergevin will actually target in free agency and find a player that fits the bill.
When you look back at the past trade deadline, Bergevin shipped out several veterans. He loves to have a large stockpile of veterans on hand so he is sure to restock those cupboards in the offseason. On deadline day, he sent Nate Thompson to the Philadelphia Flyers and Nick Cousins to the Vegas Golden Knights. Both players were good fourth line options, though Cousins often found himself moving up the depth chart and on the power play for some reason.
Anyway, Bergevin will be looking for players that can fill that void. Forwards who have been around for a few years, can take on minutes while shorthanded and can play a safe, reliable defensive role on the bottom six.
Who fits that bill in free agency? Well, Mattias Janmark played that role pretty effectively for the Dallas Stars. He was drafted as more of a scoring forward by the Detroit Red Wings in 2013. However, the Swedish wingers offensive game never really took off after he scored 19 goals in 2017-18. He had six goals and 25 points last season and had six goals and 21 points in 61 games this season.
He was a regular on the Stars penalty kill and played decent minutes with just about everyone on the Stars roster as he moved up and down the lineup. At worst, Janmark would be a defensively responsible third line winger and at best, the 27 year old could find a little more offence and be a terrific two-way winger in the top six.
He won’t come extremely cheap, but he will get far less than some of the bigger names on the market. His versatilely and ability to move up and down the lineup would make him a perfect replacement for Cousins, and he definitely brings more offence to the table.