While the success that the Habs are enjoying comes as a surprise to pretty much everyone, fans and media alike, what is more amazing is how the Canadiens have done it all with the services of star defenseman Andrei Markov.
Re-injuring his surgically repaired knee against the Hurricanes a few weeks ago, Markov went under the knife yesterday to have that same knee operated on again. As such, he is out for the balance of the season, although there is a slight chance he could be back very late in the playoffs, if the Habs go deep.
So while the Habs are playing well and look like they are for real, they still have some glaring holes in their roster that need to be addressed if they want to truly contend this season. Namely, a top-six winger to play on the second line and perhaps a puck-moving, offensive defenseman. The other asset that the Habs in short supply of is size and toughness. Aside from these problems it looks like the Habs' roster is pretty set.
It is with this in mind that I thought it was a good time to find out what you, the fans, would do with the cap space that the Habs now have available. The media is talking and the pundits are pontificating, but I want to know what the fans think.
Here is a link to the Habs salary page on CapGeek.com:
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
According to CapGeek.com, as of this morning the Canadiens have $1,069,075 in cap space plus $4,840,580 in LTIR money for a total of $5,909,925.
That's a lot of clams!
So given the current make up of the team and assuming that Scott Gomez is still the second line center—he is currently injured and listed as day-to-day—what moves would you make to improve the Habs roster and make them a true contender?
It's your turn to be the GM and you have $5,909,925 to spend. Do you make a trade? Do you call someone up from Hamilton? Do you go to the casino and put it all on red?
Send me your responses in the comments section, via Twitter, on Facebook or by email.
I am going to post this article on HabsAddict.com, the Bleacher Report, Hockeybuzz.com and the Team 990's The Franchise.ca and will be compiling the answers and posting the results on Monday December 13, 2010.
So get your thinking caps on, do your research and let me know what you think. I want names, cap numbers, explanations, justifications, the whole nine!
Happy GMing!
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
3 comments:
Well,the habs are playing pretty good right now and i dont feel like they need to improve.They should develop their young guys.But for a playoff run,i think a player like wayne simmonds or ryan smyth would help.I doubt the LA King would wanna trade their captain but dustin brown is a hell of a player.The canadiens need those grinder-scorer kinda guy.Erik Cole would be a good pick-up too.I just hope Gomez will start producing at the right time -Jawdroppa
Try and land a gritty forward with offensive talent, someone like Clowe, Downie, Iginla. Maybe an offensive Dman like Bieksa, even Kaberle.
Not sure what you'd need to give to land them but those types would definately help
Like i have said in previous posts, i am sure the Habs need a forward with that cash. I'd like a guy like a S.Montador, J.Corvo or T.Daley but I think the Habs are OK on the backend. A scoring winger is much more of a glaring need. A few ideas...Simon Gagne($5.25M UFA 2011), Milan Hejduk($3.9M UFA 2011), Tim Connolly($4.5M, UFA 2012), Brad Boyes($4.0M cap UFA 2012), Mike Ribeiro($5.0M UFA 2013). I think they only need a FWD for a couple years as they have several solid junior players ready to make the jump. I dont like Ribeiro's contract but he is familiar with Montreal and knows what it takes to play here. He was an alright player when he was here but is also a centerman. I think the help they need is a winger. I also stated before that they should push hard for Alex Semin because otherwise WSH will give him a 12yr contract to reduce their cap hit and really who wants to play with that Ovechkin guy anyways...LOL. I think my ideas arent impact guys but I think it may be hard to draw an impact guy to MTL. I cant wait for Louis LeBlanc and Brendan Gallagher to light up the World Juniors.
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