The Montreal Canadiens made six qualifying offers (QOs) today for restricted free agents (RFAs) Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Artturi Lehkonen, Ryan Poehling, Michael Pezzetta, Otto Leskinen and Michael McNiven.
They also have shown interest in David Savard and Cédric Paquette and might be signing them this week, according to Georges Laraque.
David Savard would be a great acquisition, but if his asking price is too high, it wouldn’t be worth it. He was making a $4.25 million AAV in his last contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which I think is a bit too much. It would be better for the Canadiens to find a more offensive defenceman instead.
Savard had one goal and five assists (six points) in 54 games played in the regular season, and five assists in 20 games in the playoffs.
As for Paquette, I’m not sure I understand what his role would be with the Habs. He had four goals and four assists for a total of eight points in 47 games played this past regular season, and one assist in four playoff games. But, maybe general manager Marc Bergevin is just considering it and ends up changing his mind about signing the Gaspé native.
It also seems like Chris Wideman could be signing with the Canadiens once he hits the free agency market in two days.
It sounds like Chris Wideman is a good bet to land with the #habs in free agency. The veteran defenceman is coming off a highly productive KHL season and is eligible to sign a NHL contract on Wednesday.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 26, 2021
He had a great season in the KHL and won the defenceman of the year award. The 31-year-old tallied nine goals and 32 assists, for a total of 41 points in 59 games played. He also had one goal and one assist, for two points in four playoff games. So, if he can keep his production going at the NHL level, he should have a great year ahead of him.
However, other than these rumours, the Seattle and NHL drafts, and the QOs today, nothing has really been happening with the Canadiens.
They’re waiting for free agency to start so they can make some additions to the team, but what about re-signing their own pending free agents?
I was expecting Corey Perry to have signed an extension by now, since he clearly wants to stay in Montreal, and I doubt he would say no to a minimum salary contract. But, that still hasn’t happened.
With Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar most likely hitting the free-agency market, I would say they’ll be leaving Montreal soon.
On a more positive note, it looks like Jonathan Drouin will be staying and ready to play in September, so that’s definitely something to look forward to.
Maybe Bergevin will be singing these three UFAs, maybe he won’t, but he needs to bring on some reliable players who he knows will help the team survive in a strong Atlantic Division next season, and with Shea Weber on LTIR, it should be feasable.