Top UFA Targets for the Habs

[ECWHSWI]

I see the Chicago/Prust connection landing us Bolland

Good character 3C guy coming off a couple of injury plagued seasons so may fly under the radar a bit, would let us free up Pleks in a deal for help on W


Bellemore or Fayne would be some good physical depth help on RHD

Really don't see a big splash given it's such a weak market

except Dave Bolland played for TO last season

 

[Ezpz]

Wouldn't mind going after Steve Bernier at 750k. Could be decent for Hamilton/14/15th forward. Obviously not a "top UFA target".

Also wouldn't mind going after Andy Miele if Phoenix don't re-sign him. The type of player we need in Hamilton.

I'm sure others would disagree but I'd bring back Tom Pyatt. He's much better suited to play on the PK than some of the guys we have there now like Prust. He also wins faceoffs unlike most of our team which is something we need for guys taking defensive zone faceoffs. Jay McClement would be ideal for this role but I don't see him coming here for some reason. Marcel Goc could also work.

Wouldn't mind St-Denis being brought back for Hamilton since he was kind of put in his place this year. He only got games with us because he is French, he's not an NHLer but he's a damn good AHLer.

We should re-sign Desjardins too since we keep trading him for better quality things from Tampa.

Depending on what he's asking for I'd go after Daniel Winnik too. It would be nice having a fourth line that can play. If we keep signing ones that can Therrien would be forced to use them eventually. There's no reason to play "tough guys" anymore now that gooning has pretty much left the league with skilled/gritty teams winning the cups the past few years. Teams that don't have 4th lines that can play don't go anywhere.

Obviously with the amount of bottom 6 guys I would target I would be trying to move Moen and Prust. They are beat up and slow. Though Moen was good this year Therrien clearly doesn't care for him so it would be nice if he could play somewhere he's wanted. In retrospect Bournival probably should have spent the entire year in Hamilton too. A fourth line of Winnik-McClement-Weise could be good. Saku would work on the fourth line too if he wants to come back. Let him be captain for a year and sail into retirement, also gives us another year to figure out who the leader on the team is.


I still have no idea how Montreal is perceived by the players after getting to the conference finals. If players are as easily swayed by Toronto based media as fans are then the Habs were a fluke and nobody wants to come here still. I won't bother getting my hopes up about bigger free agents though.

That being said offer Hemsky a 3 year deal worst case scenario we flip him at the deadline. It's obvious our PP needs a skill injection of guys who can creatively feed the puck. Obviously a guy like Iginla/Stastny would be great but I won't hold my breath.

Got myself pumped up for July 1st now. Watch us get Jack Skille, overpriced Bolland, Mike Kotska and Ben Eager.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

except Dave Bolland played for TO last season

Yeah he got traded to TO and before that where was he for half dozen years mostly with our GM

 

[ECWHSWI]

Yeah he got traded to TO and before that where was he for half dozen years mostly with our GM

meh, the guy is becoming UFA, he'll take the best offer, the Chicago card is being overplayed.

Not every Chicago player wll come to Montreal, and not every Prust accointance/friend will sign here to play with him...

 

[OldCraig71]

I expect to see lots of trades at the draft, it seems as thought this will be a weak draft and teams will be willing to part with high draft picks to get roster help. I expect that St Louis, San Jose, Ottawa ,Pittsburgh, Vancouver and Toronto will all be looking to re-tool if you will. This years ufa class will be weak but the trade market will be strong. There will be some good players available and I trust in Bergevin to make us better.

 

[Lshap]

Wouldn't mind going after Steve Bernier at 750k. Could be decent for Hamilton/14/15th forward. Obviously not a "top UFA target".

Also wouldn't mind going after Andy Miele if Phoenix don't re-sign him. The type of player we need in Hamilton.

I'm sure others would disagree but I'd bring back Tom Pyatt. He's much better suited to play on the PK than some of the guys we have there now like Prust. He also wins faceoffs unlike most of our team which is something we need for guys taking defensive zone faceoffs. Jay McClement would be ideal for this role but I don't see him coming here for some reason. Marcel Goc could also work.

Wouldn't mind St-Denis being brought back for Hamilton since he was kind of put in his place this year. He only got games with us because he is French, he's not an NHLer but he's a damn good AHLer.

We should re-sign Desjardins too since we keep trading him for better quality things from Tampa.

Depending on what he's asking for I'd go after Daniel Winnik too. It would be nice having a fourth line that can play. If we keep signing ones that can Therrien would be forced to use them eventually. There's no reason to play "tough guys" anymore now that gooning has pretty much left the league with skilled/gritty teams winning the cups the past few years. Teams that don't have 4th lines that can play don't go anywhere.

Obviously with the amount of bottom 6 guys I would target I would be trying to move Moen and Prust. They are beat up and slow. Though Moen was good this year Therrien clearly doesn't care for him so it would be nice if he could play somewhere he's wanted. In retrospect Bournival probably should have spent the entire year in Hamilton too. A fourth line of Winnik-McClement-Weise could be good. Saku would work on the fourth line too if he wants to come back. Let him be captain for a year and sail into retirement, also gives us another year to figure out who the leader on the team is.


I still have no idea how Montreal is perceived by the players after getting to the conference finals. If players are as easily swayed by Toronto based media as fans are then the Habs were a fluke and nobody wants to come here still. I won't bother getting my hopes up about bigger free agents though.

That being said offer Hemsky a 3 year deal worst case scenario we flip him at the deadline. It's obvious our PP needs a skill injection of guys who can creatively feed the puck. Obviously a guy like Iginla/Stastny would be great but I won't hold my breath.

Got myself pumped up for July 1st now. Watch us get Jack Skille, overpriced Bolland, Mike Kotska and Ben Eager.

Why screw up a great 4th line (plus depth) of Weise, Prust, Moen, White, Bournival? Habs need to add from the top down, ideally a top-six winger like Moulson or Hemsky.

If we're going to pack our bottom-six with players, we'd be better off re-signing Gionta, who will probably re-sign to a cheaper contract than what we'd pay for another UFA. He's still a responsible, smart two-way winger.

 

[Natey]

meh, the guy is becoming UFA, he'll take the best offer, the Chicago card is being overplayed.

Not every Chicago player wll come to Montreal, and not every Prust accointance/friend will sign here to play with him...

Bingo.

If we could get Bolland on a reasonable contact, I'd love to move Plekanec for a Top-6 winger.

Eller and Desharnais on offensive lines, Bolland in the Plekanec role.

Maybe something like;

Galchenyuk-Desharnais-Gallagher
Pacioretty-Eller-Andrighetto
Bournival-Bolland-Bourque

Or something with those 9.

 

[TheViperOne]

Bingo.

If we could get Bolland on a reasonable contact, I'd love to move Plekanec for a Top-6 winger.

Eller and Desharnais on offensive lines, Bolland in the Plekanec role.

Maybe something like;

Galchenyuk-Desharnais-Gallagher
Pacioretty-Eller-Andrighetto
Bournival-Bolland-Bourque

Or something with those 9.

Those are just awful lines. Are you wanting another lottery pick?

 

[Scintillating10]

I see the Chicago/Prust connection landing us Bolland

Good character 3C guy coming off a couple of injury plagued seasons so may fly under the radar a bit, would let us free up Pleks in a deal for help on W


Bellemore or Fayne would be some good physical depth help on RHD

Really don't see a big splash given it's such a weak market

Bolland is injured too much.

 

[Scriptor]

Montreal has Money we need more assets unfortunately I don't see any of these guy linning up to play in Montreal (Taxes, Media, not a contender, French) I'm not too scared signning player like Makov worst case put him on LTIR.
MB should sign anyone that is willing to sign in Montreal as long as they meet the following:
1) They improve the team
2) Not blocking any prospect from progressing
3) Done over paid to much making them untradable

We need a top 4 Dman and top 6 Fw, if were able to get 2 Perfect.
D
Niskanen (RD)
Markov
Nikitin
Fayne (RD)
Greene (RD)

LW
Michalek
Jiri Sekac
Moulson

C (Signning Stastny probably mean trading Plekanec)
Stastny
Boyle
Moore

RW
Gaborik
Hemsky
Vanek
Vrbata
Setoguchi
Kulemin
Iginla (isn't signning in Montreal since he is looking to get a cup)
Gionta

What, you're going to pull a Tanya harding on Markov after one or two season?

 

[Ezpz]

Why screw up a great 4th line (plus depth) of Weise, Prust, Moen, White, Bournival? Habs need to add from the top down, ideally a top-six winger like Moulson or Hemsky.

If we're going to pack our bottom-six with players, we'd be better off re-signing Gionta, who will probably re-sign to a cheaper contract than what we'd pay for another UFA. He's still a responsible, smart two-way winger.

Prust has been anything but great.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Any lines that still have desharnais as our top center are not lines I'm dreaming of.

 

[Halifaxhab*]

Prust has been anything but great.

He fills a bottom 6 role very well.

 

[Vi Nc E x13x]

Who is Jiri Sekac and why is he under your potential top 6 lol

 

[teh doors]

What about Derek Morris, a veteran RD who played 19:26/game last year, made 2,750,000 and won't be back in Phoenix?

 

[TopTenPlayz]

Don't get the hype for Stastny. He will undoubtedly get a RIDICULOUS contract (we're talking here of possibly 7M+), and we'd be paying that amount for a low-end first line center, high-end N.2. You know, quite similar to Plekanec, although he's more offensively oriented while Plekanec is more of a defense first guy.

He's a guy that produces slightly more than David Desharnais. And you guys want him to be our top priority this summer?



Do tell me, how many times have you watched the Pens play this season?

Niskanen is a better player at this point in time than Andrei Markov.

Stastny has 458 pts in 538 career games which is .85 ppg which averages around 70 pts in 82 games...

 

[teh doors]

I see the Chicago/Prust connection landing us Bolland

That is true, OHL linemates too I think.

But after Bolland's injury troubles might be better going after Jay McClement who is always healthy and a steady player for a lot less cash

 

[Scintillating10]

What about Derek Morris, a veteran RD who played 19:26/game last year, made 2,750,000 and won't be back in Phoenix?

Doubt he is any better than Weaver

 

[ROSSter]

Having Iggy on the Habs would be amazing. Exactly the RW we need.

 

[habsfanatics*]

Still think we have center depth, but lack talent. I would acquire Stastny and move out DD.

 

[Natey]

Those are just awful lines. Are you wanting another lottery pick?

I'm trying to split Desharnais and Pacioretty, becuase that'll lead to Galchenyuk maybe getting reps at center.

Andrighetto, like with all my lines, is a placeholder for whoever we got for Plekanec.

Bolland + Top-6 winger > Plekanec + Gionta

I'm not saying Bolland is better than Plekanec, but I think a Top-6 winger that we could get for him would be a huge improvement on Gionta. And if we want to move forward with Eller + Galchenyuk or Desharnais + Galchenyuk, we need to make the room and have defined roles.

If that looked bad, you could write it like;

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Gallagher
Galchenyuk - Eller - PLEKANEC WINGER
Bournival - Bolland - Bourque

 

[No More Subban]

If we're going to pack our bottom-six with players, we'd be better off re-signing Gionta, who will probably re-sign to a cheaper contract than what we'd pay for another UFA. He's still a responsible, smart two-way winger.

I am so done with Gionta. But Therrien has a lot to do with it too. If he needs to juggle the lines, Gionta will be back in the top 6 again with Plekanec. Something I don't ever want to see again. Plus, Galchenyuk will be put in a defensive role once again.

I know Habs just made it to 3rd round, but I still want to see some big changes like replacing our "captain" and giving Galchenyuk some real offensive players.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Bolland is a 3rd line centre who wants 2nd line money and term. Pass.

Besides, centre isn't a problem for us now. We need a top 6 RW to round out our line up. Other than that, I doubt there wholesale changes to a team that's played well and went to the ECF and finished 2nd in the East the year before that.

If there is a big signing or trade it'll be for the RW. Hopefully it's Neal or Iggy but I doubt it

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Haha I agree that Klesla might be random but I always liked his play. As for Orpik, didn't watch much Pens games but the ones I watched I found him pretty good on a Martin-Orpik pairing. Is he that bad?

I'm pretty sure Klesla retired.

 

[habsrule22]

boyle from the ranger would be a good pick up especially if we trade Pleks maybe for sharp. boyle is big a good pk man. he wouldn t be too expensive n ranger have cap issues