Since Heineman was lost to injury our 4th line has been way less efficient.
Evans and Armia still look good as a whole, but it's been tougher on them.
Which makes me think that Heineman, with his speed, shot, and relentless forecheck, might have been "the straw that stirs the drink" in this case.
Anyhow, I'm on team "re-sign Evans".
It's harder than most on here think to find such a good pro and defensive center as Evans.
Evans should remain in his prime for the next 4-5 years, is very good defensively and on the PK, has great work ethic, is reasonably productive offensively, wins faceoffs at a decent rate, is fast, generally good for puck-possession, wants to actually be here in Montreal, sticks up for his teammates, and is just generally a "glue guy" in the locker room. What's not to love about a player like that?
Oh, and we don't even have to spend assets to acquire him, just some capspace.
Seriously, even if we overpay a bit on Evans' contract it's not the end of the world. I'd rather we showed some respect to a guy that stuck with our team all through the down years after the playoff push, and who might help our team going forward, rather than trading him for scraps on the dollar at the deadline and letting him walk to UFA.
