Is the playoffs enough for the Montreal Canadiens next season?

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TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 18: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

2) What is a move you feel Marc Bergevin must make and why?

TL: Marc Bergevin has a busy offseason ahead of him, but one thing he absolutely must do is find Carey Price a reliable backup goalie. The team’s in-house options aren’t looking too promising, and with a huge number of free-agent goalies hitting the market this summer, Bergevin needs to open the coffers and find someone who can play at least 35 games and win the majority of his starts because as we saw during the playoffs, a rested Price is a dangerous Price.

SC: With the Canadiens season just recently ending, discussing what trade’s Bergevin must make is difficult, as the dust kind of settles around the spur of the moment excitement these playoffs brought. While players like Tomas and Tatar and Max Domi (especially after these playoffs) are expected to have rumors swirling, I feel as though trading them simply because of a bad postseason isn’t the best idea.

For me personally, I think a trade that would be beneficial to Montreal comes from the Tampa Bay Lightning. While not a major trade, Alex Barre Boulet has been tearing up the AHL with the Lightning’s farm team, the Syracuse Crunch, tying for the league lead in goals last year as a rookie. Despite this, he’s been given little, if any chance, by a stacked Tampa Bay team, which makes me wonder where exactly his value lies.

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If it’s in the range of a middle of the road prospect, adding him to Laval alongside his old-line mates, Joel Teasdale and Alexandre Alain, and former coach, Joel Bouchard, could be a match made in heaven. While I’m not quite sure what Tampa would want in exchange, I feel it could be a solid trade for Montreal.

ED: We’ve heard the need to acquire a top-LD ad nauseam, and I still believe that this is a necessary move to make though so much as the need for acquiring a scoring winger to compliment either Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Nick Suzuki. I believe this is especially true after a playoffs where the Canadiens could have benefitted from an extra goal in all but two games. Whether that’s in the form of risky free agent signings or through the trade market, acquiring a scoring winger should be the utmost priority.

Another necessary move should be acquiring a backup goaltender to reduce the number of games Carey Price plays and allowing him ample time to rest because, as we saw in the Canadiens 10 games played this month, a rested Carey Price is beyond dominant. I would look towards the free-agent market and set my sights on Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss or Corey Crawford.

OW: There are moves I’d like for the Montreal Canadiens to make, but Marc Bergevin cannot leave this offseason without having a for-sure backup for Price. It’s clear he’s overused and overworked, and the Pittsburgh Penguins were worried about having to face a rested Carey Price. And what happened? A rested Carey Price won the team the series and got them the upset.

Teams around the league have all caught on to the idea of platooning goaltenders. The Boston Bruins do it with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the Dallas Stars did with Ben Bishop, and Anton Khudobin and the Philadelphia Flyers did it with Carter Hart and Brian Elliott. In seeing how dominant Price can be when he’s not forced to overwork himself, it has to be Bergevin’s absolute objective to find someone who can get at least 30-35 starts.

If not, the Habs’ offseason is a failure, in my opinion.

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