The problems are Gallagher and Anderson as roster spots AND salaries unfortunately
They aren't having bad years by any means, no
BUT their very existences and contract lengths make it so that next year
The team still has Anderson and Gallagher but NO Evans or Armia
And I just dont see how people would think we'll be a better team next year if this happened..
In a perfect world, you keep Evans and Armia as perfect bottom6ers and PKers to reasonable deals and get rid of the seemingly un-get-riddable Anderson and Gallagher contracts..
But alas, easier said than done
Thanks Bergy.
It's such an unfair conundrum for us lol
2 players you need to get rid of AND are overpaid, but can't do it
While we can lose 2 players we actually need for nothing and are currently underpaid (or paid fairly) lol
Sigh
All of them are pretty OK. A lot of the issues with Armia and Anderson were that the team didn't have the players to be able to compete. Adding Laine and Carrier added an offensive threat and a defensive D that they really needed. Dvorak doesn't fit well, and replacing him will help.
The habs need some depth, because they look much worse without Laine and any of the top 4 D, and they need a #1 D, or at least another definite top 4 RHD who can play defence. It would be nice to replace Gallagher, he's not the player he was and he's old enough that he's likely to have more declines, plus he's yet another small guy even if he's strong and feisty.
Anderson will probably slow down but now that he's playing good D he's a positive for the team. If they let Armia go they'll need another big guy who can play on the boards to replace him, something they don't have in their system. It's probably not a gain.
Switching out Dvorak for Beck should be a win, though there may be growing pains. Switching out Savard or Struble for a better D, not necessarily an easy thing to do, would also help. It's not like there are a bunch of people they need to bring up. Mailloux isn't looking like an NHLer, Roy has been good, but not great, Engstrom and Trudeau are fine, but not likely to be better than available options, at least not yet. Davidson is fine, but not exactly pushing for a promotion. Xhekaj and Tuch may make it eventually, but probably not this year, maybe next for Tuch.
They've shown they can beat good teams with the current lineup, and it's a good thing considering that once they add Demidov and Beck they won't have many major prospects. Last night's game was good, but also pretty fortunate, the Avs had a bunch of good chances, and Dobes did well keeping his body in the way. Dobes is probably on a high from his promotion and won't sustain his current level of success. The habs don't have the depth, now, to play without Savard and Laine. With Laine in the lineup the offence is sufficient. If they can't re-sign Evans and Armia the bottom 6 will be worse, but we'll see what Demidov can do to compensate.
