FEATURE | Marc Bergevin’s Off-season Plan for Montreal Canadiens, Habs Salary Cap, Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agents

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Now that the season is over, the post-mortem on the Habs season has begun without much of the negativity attached to last year.

For the first half of the season, the Canadiens five-on-five offense was top five in the NHL, but struggled in the 2019 calendar year. Several players enjoyed career point totals providing fans with a style I’ll call a lunch pail version of fire-wagon hockey.

However, there are two glaringly holes that should be addressed. Marc Bergevin must significantly upgrade the team’s defence and improve a woeful power-play.

With the man advantage, the Canadiens were ranked 30th in the NHL with a success rate of just 13.2 percent. Montreal had some success on the power-play in the final ten games of the season. Marc Bergevin pointed to improved face-off performance from Jordan Weal and Phillip Danault as a key to the improvement.

The Canadiens must do a much better job retaining possession in the offensive zone including faceoffs, protecting against neutral zone turnovers and consistently making better zone entries. Adding a skilled player in the off-season would be an ideal remedy.

The other massive issue that remains on Bergevin’s to-do list since his inability to re-sign Andrei Markov is a lack of proven, puck-moving defencemen who can play next to Shea Weber.

In his second full NHL season, Victor Mete has proven himself a somewhat capable defender and an excellent, puck-moving skater. The 20-year-old has yet to score an NHL goal generating just 20 points in 120 games and struggles against large physical forwards. Playing with Mete has also placed an extra burden on Shea Weber who has done his best to make up for the young defenceman’s liabilities. 

Bergevin must finally to do something to address long-standing issues. Additional pressure is mounting for improve in the short term, as Carey Price has been vocal about wanting to win now. 

How would Carey Price sell unrestricted free agents on Montreal?
“I would tell them that obviously my window is growing smaller and I really want to win more than ever, so I think that should be a pretty good indication of how bad we want to win here.”

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) April 9, 2019

Many fans believe this situation can be fixed simply by spending to the cap. While it is true more than $10 million in cap space has sat unused each of the past two seasons, the dollars must be used effectively to make a difference. 

Unrestricted free agents are part of the puzzle to build a winning team. It will be a challenge for Bergevin to manage the salaries of skilled additions while planning for the maturation of the young core of the Habs. The term of any contract offered is just as important as the dollar amount.

While fans may believe that pending unrestricted free agent Artemi Panarin provides a solution, I believe that he would be far too costly. It may cripple the chances of filling the need for a top-pairing defenceman. Bergevin indicated that he would be unlikely to use an offer sheet on a restricted free agent to upgrade his team.

The Canadiens’ are likely better served to use trades and the draft as the route to improve long term. In the short term, pursuing secondary free agents is a possibility if trades prove too difficult. 

This summer’s unrestricted free agent class is very good and should be sought after commodities. There are players who can help on the power-play such as Jordan Eberle, Gustav Nyqvist and Brett Connolly.  Defencemen such as Jake Gardiner or Will Butcher have the speed to contribute to the transition game.

Ideally Bergevin can finally secure a defenceman who can help play with Weber on a regular basis and quarterback the power-play. Mete can then slide down the depth chart to a more comfortable second or third-pairing slot. 

All eyes will be on Bergevin effectively use the team’s cap space to make impactful signings in the off-season to take advantage of Canadiens leaders in their prime. 

By Blain Potvin, Staff Writer. Edited by Cate Racher.
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