Montreal Canadiens: Three Free Agents Who Still Make Sense For Habs
The Montreal Canadiens were not expected to be busy on the free agent market, and they have not been. They are heading into a season where they are likely to struggle and aren’t expected to make a run for the Stanley Cup.
They are also dangerously close to the salary cap and couldn’t have bid on the top free agents, and have no chance of signing a player like John Klingberg or Nazem Kadri even if they wanted to try to pull off such a deal.
So far, their free agents signing have been AHL players like Mitchell Stephens and Anthony Richard. They did also sign Rem Pitlick after initially not giving him a qualifying offer and allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent. He will play in the NHL, but comes at a modest cap hit of $1.1 million.
The biggest news of the free agent season so far was actually a trade. Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling were sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night for Michael Matheson and a 4th round pick. That adds another left shot defender to the top four while removing a similar profiled player from the right side. They also lose a little centre depth, but still have Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak, Kirby Dach and Jake Evans down the middle.
So, are they done? Probably not. They are still pressed right up against the salary cap and need to sign Dach. They have a plethora of wingers who can play at the NHL level and will likely move one to open up cap space. They still won’t need to replace them since they have plenty of options on either wing and have NHL ready players like Jesse Ylonen and Rafael Harvey-Pinard to step in if injuries occur.
What does that leave them needing? With Petry gone, perhaps another veteran right shot defender. They have David Savard and Chris Wideman on that side, and perhaps Justin Barron can play in the NHL next season, but you don’t want to see him rushed there because of a lack of options.
The trade of Poehling also leaves them with four NHL centres, but only four NHL centres. Adding a depth player that can play the middle is now a need.
Who could they target in free agency? These three players make a lot of sense for the Canadiens to sign right now.