With the Stanley Cup handed out and the offseason officially underway, now is as good a time as any to take a look at the crop of unrestricted free agent blueliners that currently sit without deals. There is still plenty of time before the July 1st frenzy for these players to make deals, but let’s peruse three different styles of players who may be options for the Montreal Canadiens.
Jacob Trouba
Habs fans have been clamoring for more grit and toughness, especially along the blue line. No other unrestricted free agent brings quite as many of all those qualities as one Jacob Trouba.
The 32-year-old brings almost every physical aspect of the defensive side to his game. He lays out monster hits all over the ice and is year after year one of the league’s leading shot blockers. The right-shot blueliner would best be paired with one of Montreal’s (many) puck-moving defensemen and is pretty much a plug-and-play piece on the penalty kill.
Trouba finished the regular season with 10 goals and 25 assists in 81 games played while hitting the ice for an average of 18:23 at five-on-five per game. Trouba is also someone with lots of playoff experience, with 85 games played across his time with the Jets, Rangers, and Ducks.
AFP Analytics projects him at a four-year contract with an AAV of $6.4 Million. He could be a good mid-term option while allowing the younger talent to develop into their primes.
Rasmus Andersson
Trades in the NHL are often viewed through the guise of having a winner and a loser, and in the case of the Vegas Golden Knights trading with the Calgary Flames for Rasmus Andersson, Vegas lost.
Andersson’s shift to Sin City did not nearly go as planned. His offensive production sharply dropped off, despite still clocking between 19 and 23 minutes a night. His playoffs were equally, if not more, underwhelming, garnering six assists and finishing with a +2 rating.
In the Finals alone, he finished with one assist that came from the bedlam that was game four. A glaring stat in the finals for me, though, was that he generated two takeaways and seven giveaways.
All that talk of underperforming to ask, why target Andersson? He’s 29, has 49 games of playoff experience, and is a bona fide minute-munching right-shot defender. He also has the potential for offensive upside and fits into the quick transition play of the Canadiens.
AFP Analytics does project his next contract will be around a six- year term with an AAV of around $8.75 million dollars. This may be too bitter a pill to swallow for the Habs management if it truly does come to that cost. However, there are worse options if the Canadiens truly lean into the speed and mobility of their defensive identity.
Connor Murphy
Murphy was traded just a few days before the trade deadline from Chicago to Edmonton in an effort to bring some much-needed toughness to the Oilers. He’s a through-and-through stay-at-home defenseman and utilizes his size in all the right ways. It certainly helps that he shoots right as well.
He’s also a player who would help the Canadiens in a glaring area of need, someone who can clear the front of the net and make life difficult for any attackers near the crease. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds, he would have a unique build on the Canadiens' blueline.
Once again, per the good folks at AFP Analytics, Murphy’s next contract is projected to be very reasonable, sitting at just two years in length and carrying an AAV of $3.61 million, well within Montreal’s cap situation.
However, a player profile like this is rarely sent to free agency without a fight, and with Darnell Nurse likely leaving the Oilers, a player like Murphy may be all the more valuable.
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