Montreal Canadiens: Three Free Agents To Replace Departures
By Joshua Rosa
The NHL offseason is in full swing. And it’s shaping up to be a busy one. The expansion draft is coming, teams are gearing up for hopefully the first full season in two years, and the flat cap could spell disaster for many teams. There look to be buyouts galore. The Montreal Canadiens recently made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, and will look to do the same or better in this upcoming season.
But due to some departures, Bergevin might have another busy offseason ahead of him.
Kotkaniemi needs a new contract, Perry could be resigned, and someone is going to leave to Seattle, and upgrades need to be made.
Topline winger and leading point scorer the year before last Tomas Tatar seems to have been shown the door. Shea Weber seems to be facing a season-ending injury before the season has already begun, which leaves backup Jake Allen the most tantalizing piece for Seattle’s expansion.
Since Montreal is losing these pieces for nothing in return, it would be nice to replace them without giving up anything in return. That’s where unrestricted free agents come in.
Montreal, and all Canadian teams in general, struggle to attract free agents. Yes, all teams have the same cap ceiling, but Canadian law places higher taxes on players’ income than the Americans.
Free agents are generally overpaid anyways, as it becomes a bidding war of who can afford to pay the most and come to regret it. But the Canadiens hold an ace up their sleeves. They made the Stanley Cup Final.
Players will generally take a pay cut for two reasons: either the team is their hometown team/team they grew up following, or they are chasing the Cup. This is particularly true for older players, and magnified if they haven’t won Lord Stanley’s Mug before. And suddenly Montreal looks like a possible contender next year.
Now, it would be easy to go straight into the land of make-believe, and try to reason Alex Ovechkin or Dougie Hamilton coming to Montreal, but the odds are that this will never really happen. Sure, it would be nice, but how much would that cost and for how long? These are hopefully a few, more affordable options to fill some holes in the roster.