When Desharnais and Gionta are moved, which looks to be soon, the Habs would be wise to have wingers in place to assume Galchenyuk's and Gionta's positions. I have been promoting a trade with Dallas for Brett Ritchie RW to take Gionta's place and Nick Ritchie LW in the 2014 draft to be ready to take Galchenyuk's LW slot.
These moves will most likely take place by the summer of 2015 IMO. At that point the maturation of Collberg, McCarron and the Ritchie brothers will be at hand. I realize that's idealistic thinking, but within the realm of possibilities, Dallas having A. Chiasson and V. Nicushkin at RW means B.Ritchie will be moved IMO, I just hope Bergevin's thinking is likewise and they are in talks already.
With the addition of McCarron and Collberg the last two drafts, RW looks to be solid barring injuries or veterans being moved. The Habs defence will have added Beaulieu by the end of this season IMO, and with both Tinordi and Beaulieu joining Markov, Emelin, Gorges and Diaz to start the 2014/2015 season the backend will be solid.
The start of the 2014/2015 season the Habs will be set to bring in our 1st rounders (Collberg & McCarron) and Bourque will probably join Plekanec on 3rd line duties. This is the reasoning behind trading for B.Ritchie & drafting N.Ritchie, besides the Habs gaining talent with size in their top nine, changing the character of the team from small and speedy, to a well balanced team.
Players like Hudon, Andrighetto, Reway and Gallagher will have linemates with talent, size and speed that are physical enough to create room for them to be creative. This is the Montreal Canadiens way, the dynasty teams of the past have always had the smaller players with ultra talent (Lafleur, Mondou, Lemaire) accompanied by the Mahovlich's and Robinson's to make room for their magic.
It's getting so close I'm beginning to smell it coming, #25 is on it's way and once it starts, stopping them will be a horrendous feat for the other teams.