A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: Grading Marc Bergevin’s Offseason Moves

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 01: Jesperi Kotkaniemi #15 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a victory with goaltender Carey Price #31 against the Washington Capitals during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 1, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 01: Jesperi Kotkaniemi #15 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a victory with goaltender Carey Price #31 against the Washington Capitals during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 1, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 31: Phillip Danault #24 and Tomas Tatar #90 of Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 31: Phillip Danault #24 and Tomas Tatar #90 of Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Re-Signing Joel Armia: 4 x 3.4

I’m sure every Habs fan has by now realized that Armia is invisible for a handful of games and then scores two goals in a game while dominating physically and putting on an absolute clinic on the penalty kill: Dr. Armia and Mr. Joel. Armia is a really useful player because he can play just about anywhere in the lineup and the term on this contract is quite good. I certainly would have preferred to let him walk and used the cap space to facilitate the re-signing of Phillip Danault, but having depth on the wings is always a nice luxury to have. The contract is also quite tradeable, which certainly helps.

Grade: B

Re-Signing Artturi Lehkonen: 1 x 2.3

Lehkonen gave Habs fans the team’s most iconic moment since the ’93 cup. With the signing of Matthieu Perreault and the option to have signed Corey Perry on the cheap, however, Bergevin may have been wise to save some cap and get some assets in return for Lehkonen’s rights at the draft. This team’s cap is now extremely concentrated in bottom-6 wingers, which just doesn’t seem to be a wise formula. Still, Lehkonen is a likeable swiss army knife and should earn this contract.

Grade: B –

Letting Danault Walk

I’m a real appreciator of Phillip Danault’s game. Sure, 6 years at $5.5 million for a 28-year-old centre who has never scored more than 13 goals in a season seems outrageous, but he is among the league’s elite defensive forwards and was the only Hab that forced teams to try to get their star players away from matchups against him in the playoff run, which I really value. While the Habs may have needed to pay $6 million to retain his services, but it would have been worthwhile in my eyes.

Grade: C +

Letting Tatar Walk

I also like Tomas Tatar a lot, I think Ducharme’s biggest mistake on the playoff run was not re-inserting Tatar into the lineup after game 1 against Tampa. While I think New Jersey is getting a steal with Tatar’s 2 x $4.5 million contract, Tatar was never re-signing in Montreal, so there wasn’t really a choice to make here.

Grade: A –

Letting Perry Walk

This stung. Perry was vocal about his desire to stay in Montreal, if the reason he left was really that Bergevin didn’t want to offer him a two-year deal at $1 million, I think the GM really dropped the ball. Perry was a great power-play contributor, leader, and arguably the Habs’ best forward vs Tampa Bay in the finals. The Habs certainly have a bunch of depth on the wings, they could have kept Danault and Perry and let go of Armia and Lehkonen for an extra $1 million in cap and gotten assets for Lehkonen.

Grade: C –

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