What would you like to see as the 2014-15 roster?

[Guess]

Taking into consideration the cap space and number of free agents on the team, what do you see as the optimal roster for the canadiens in the new year? I am more interested in knowing about the in-house changes and not the free agent signings from other teams.

Forwards kept: Plekanec, Pacioretty, Bourque, Prust, Moen, Galchenyuk, White, Gallagher, Bournival, Eller, Weise, Vanek
Forwards traded/not resigned: Desharnais, Briere, Gionta, Parros

Defence kept: Markov, Emelin, Gorges, Subban, Weaver, Beaulieu, Tinordi
Defence traded/not resigned: Murray, Bouillon

Reasoning behind the changes:

Desharnais is hampering Galchenyuk's progression into center
Plekanec is still part of the long-term plans of this team
Eller is more reliable defensively and more suitable as third line center.
Briere is expensive and not worth his salary.
Gionta is fast and decent on the forecheck but has little creativity and could be replaced with a younger speedy winger.
Parros was a failed experiment.
Bouillon is old and mistake-prone
Murray is a pylon.

With this, the team can keep its speed and transition game and bring in some more offensive creativity, while staying solid in the defensive zone.

 

[Habsrule]

I agree with all of the above. The only problem would be trading Desharnais and Briere. I am not so sure that their would be many takers for either of them.

I am on the fence with Gionta though. It is very rare that a NHL team will let their captain walk away and become a UFA. I think that the signing of Gionta is based around if Vanek is willing to sign here. If he signs as a Hab then Gionta has to go for salary cap reasons. If Vanek signs elsewhere then I would not mind Gionta back at a three million a year type of contract. He kills penalties and has been playing well since getting bumped from the top line to the third line. Even though we all know that the Habs need to have a bigger, stronger and more physical team while still maintaining a high skill set. Getting rid of Gionta will only upgrade the team in the size department. See why I am on the fence with him.

I think that the biggest problem that Montreal has is their lack of young forwards ready to make the jump to the NHL. Yes I do realize that Galchenyuk, Gallagher and Bournival are all young forwards who have made the jump. The only problem is that they do not have anyone in Hamilton who is ready to jump into the NHL and be a regular every game player.

At least on defence they have Tinordi, Beaulieu and Pattern who can make the jump.

 

[David Suzuki]

Let's finish 2013-2014 first.

 

[kris]

Let's finish 2013-2014 first.

Couldn't agree more.