Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
I don't know if it's PTSD from lacking star forwards for so long but there's this belief in the MTL fanbase that every loss is either the goalie or the bottom-6 F players not doing good enough. Can't even blame Bergevin for this weird focus on the bottom-6 because it predated him.
There's no doubt our bottom-6 is why we are were we are. But having said that it doesn't mean everything is fine, and it's true that Dvorak and Gallagher are the players where we can see the biggest upgrades. The lack of footspeed for both players hurts, and with Gallagher his conditioning relative to play style hurts his effectiveness immensely. Now some of their defensive responsibilities aren't the type of minutes that you want to give rookies straight away, but all that means is that if you do replace them with rookies like say Beck/Kapanen that there will be a shuffling of responsibilities which isn't a big deal.
I'm content with it. Especially if we stay put this year and chase the playoffs (no changes to the roster). I don't see them blocking anybody and do we need their cap space? Not really because it expires after 2 years.
Dvorak is gone after this year. That frees up a spot for Beck or Kapanen. Does Armia come back? Not sure.