By Stevo, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — Pierre Gauthier and the Montreal Canadiens made two moves on opening day of the free agency period this past Friday, by acquiring the services of both Erik Cole and Peter Budaj. Cole was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998, and played there his entire career, with the exception of a short stay in Edmonton, while Peter Budaj who was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and played there his entire career.

Erik Cole (33 years of age one month into the start of the season)

• four-year contract
• Contract Total: $18M
• Cap Hit: $4.5M per season.

Peter Budaj (29 years of age at the start of the season)

• Two-year contract
• Contract Total: $2.3M
• Cap Hit: $1.15M per season.

In the case of Cole, I really like the signing for multiple reasons. He’s a big size forward with good vision on the ice. He’s able to score goals down low in the paint, and he’s also able to show signs of finesse when setting up plays to his line-mates.

Nobody should get carried away and think he’s a tough guy however, although he has seven career fights, only three of his fights registered enough votes at hockeyfights.com to display a result, and he lost all three of those fights. That being said, I don’t think it will prevent him from providing a much needed physical presence at the forward position.

Last season with the Carolina Hurricanes, he picked up 26 goals and the same number of assists making him both dangerous in the goal and assist columns. He was fourth amongst Hurricane players in points, and third in goals with only Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner putting up more goals than him. In 620 career games, he has tallied 184 goals and 390 assists, for a total of 574 points. (0.93 points per game)

Oh and, he’s a Stanley Cup winner.

If I were to quickly throw some lines together, I could potentially have the following at hand:

1. Erik Cole, Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri
2. Max Pacioretty, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta
3. Andrei Kostitsyn, Lars Eller, David Desharnais
4. ____________, Travis Moen, Mathieu Darche
5. ____________ (13th forward if they choose)

If we do the same on defence, we could have the following:

1. Markov/Spacek
2. Subban/Gorges (RFA)
3. Gill/Yemelin
4. Weber

For now, I’m hoping Ryan White will end up being the guy on the fourth line of my mock scenario. His energy, competitiveness, and fiery play always provide some much needed spark, and we saw that on a few occasions last season. He just like Josh Gorges is a restricted free agent, and is still negotiating a new contract with the Canadiens.

In the case of Josh Gorges, I have no reason to believe anything other than this is a normal contract negotiating process, and I don’t believe anyone has any reason to believe this deal won’t get done. My gut is expecting the contract to get signed in and around $3M per season, for anywhere between three and four seasons.

In the case of Yemelin, many have pegged him “NHL ready” for as early as the start of next season, but should the Canadiens choose otherwise, and should he choose to go back to the KHL if that were the case, you would think Pierre Gauthier would want to have an insurance policy in place.  It would therefore not surprise me if Gauthier were to go out and get a defenseman on the free agent market, possibly one who could accept a two-contract and could easily be shipped to Hamilton if required.

Going on the assumption that Gauthier is still shopping for a defenseman, a forward, and has Josh Gorges and Ryan White to sign, I see the cap situation as follows:

Salary Cap Situation:

• Salary Cap: $64,300,000
• Current Payroll: $55,995,510
• Cap Space: $8,304,490

Projected Signings:

• Josh Gorges – $3.3M/season?
• Ryan White – $1.0M/season?
• 13th forward – $700K?
• Insurance D – $700K?

Okay, granted, I’m throwing anything at the board right now but if we continue on this adventure, it would leave the Canadiens with $2.6M in cap space. Some might argue this would be best kept for a rainy, but it also begs to ask the question, could the Montreal Canadiens, for example, be trying to use this money, plus some of the other money they have left, to acquire another player that could fulfil a more prominent role on this team? Perhaps also via a trade? Many rumours have been flying but this is Montreal, what can we ever really believe when it comes to rumours? We are left to sit and wait.

Finally, let’s not forget Peter Budaj. When it comes to the signing of a backup goaltender, I often hear the phrases “who cares”, or “It’s only a backup goaltender”, or “there are more important positions than backup goaltender”. Although I might agree with the latter of the three, I strongly disagree with the first two. Maybe it has to do with the fact I played at the goaltender position for my entire minor/junior hockey career, but whatever the reason, I will dip into it and let me tell you, I am not a fan of this signing.

Although Alex Auld only played twelve games with the Canadiens last season, he was in nets for what was 14 points earned in the standings and just a few less could have meant missing the playoffs for the Habs.

As many are aware, I was one of those who strongly believed Auld had deserved the opportunity to have a new contract in Montreal, by the way he handled himself last season, both on and off the ice. Pierre Gauthier instead elected to sign Peter Budaj to a two-year contract, therefore more money and term than it would have cost to keep Auld who signed with the Ottawa Senators for one-year, $1M, the same contract he had with Montreal last season.

So if the Canadiens signed a backup goaltender to more money, and a longer term, he’s better, right? Well, not necessarily. Although both Auld and Budaj both do not have fabulous career stats, Alex Auld has a better career goals against average (GAA) and save percentage (Sv%). In Budaj’s case, he had his worst career totals last season, going 15-21-4 with the Colorado Avalanche, posting a GAA of 3.20, and a Sv% of 0.895%.

Considering Alex Auld perfectly accepted his role last season (not to say Peter Budaj won’t), I question why the Canadiens, who could have kept Alex Auld, who went on record as saying he would have liked to stay in Montreal, did not bother to offer him a new contract. Especially if you consider he only lost two regular season games in his twelve starts.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the acquisitions. My liking of the Erik Cole signing far outweighs my dislike of the Peter Budaj signing, and now I’m simply left to wonder what Gauthier will do with his remaning money.

*****

Erik Cole – LW

Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	TP	PIM		Playoffs	GP	G	A	TP	PIM
1995-1996	Oswego Admirals	USHS	40	49	41	90	–	|
1996-1997	Des Moines Buccaneers	USHL	48	30	34	64	140	|	Playoffs	5	2	0	2	0
1997-1998	Clarkson Univ.	NCAA	34	11	20	31	55	|
1998-1999	Clarkson Univ.	NCAA	36	22	40	42	50	|
1999-2000	Clarkson Univ.	NCAA	33	19	11	30	46	|
	Cincinnati Cyclones	IHL	9	4	3	7	2	|	Playoffs	7	1	1	2	2
2000-2001	Cincinnati Cyclones	IHL	69	23	20	43	28	|	Playoffs	5	1	0	1	2
2001-2002	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	81	16	24	40	35	|	Playoffs	23	6	3	9	30
2002-2003	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	53	14	13	27	72	|
2003-2004	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	80	18	24	42	93	|
2004-2005	Eisbären Berlin	DEL	39	6	21	27	76	|	Playoffs	8	5	1	6	37
	USA	WC	7	1	5	6	6	|
2005-2006	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	60	30	29	59	54	|	Playoffs	2	0	0	0	0
	USA OG	OG	6	1	2	3	0	|
2006-2007	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	71	29	32	61	76	|
	USA	WC	7	1	4	5	2	|
2007-2008	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	73	22	29	51	76	|
2008-2009	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	63	16	11	27	63	|
	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	17	2	13	15	10	|	Playoffs	18	0	5	5	22
2009-2010	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	40	11	5	16	29	|
2010-2011	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	82	26	26	52	49	|
2011-2012	Montréal Canadiens	NHL	–	–	–	–	–	|

*****

Peter Budaj – G

Season	Team	League	GP	GAA	SVS%		Playoffs	GP	GAA	SVS%
1999-2000	Toronto St. Michael’s Majors	OHL	34	4.01	.882	|
	Slovakia U18	WJC-18	5	3.13	.932	|
2000-2001	Toronto St. Michael’s Majors	OHL	37	2.86	.907	|	Playoffs	11	2.51	–
	Slovakia U20	WJC-20	4	4.01	.875	|
2001-2002	Toronto St. Michael’s Majors	OHL	42	2.29	.922	|	Playoffs	12	3.29	.898
	Slovakia U20	WJC-20	4	3.11	.919	|
2002-2003	Hershey Bears	AHL	28	2.66	.911	|	Playoffs	1	20.81	.333
2003-2004	Hershey Bears	AHL	46	2.80	.916	|
	Slovakia WCup	WCup	0	–	–	|
2004-2005	Hershey Bears	AHL	59	2.65	.919	|
2005-2006	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	34	2.86	.900	|
	Slovakia OG	OG	3	2.01	.924	|
2006-2007	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	57	2.68	.905	|
2007-2008	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	35	2.57	.903	|	Playoffs	3	3.33	.908
	Slovakia	WC	1	3.03	.903	|
2008-2009	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	56	2.86	.899	|
2009-2010	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	15	2.64	.917	|	Playoffs	1	6.67	.750
	Slovakia OG	OG	0	–	–	|
	Slovakia	WC	6	2.76	.913	|
2010-2011	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	45	3.20	.895	|
2011-2012	Montréal Canadiens	NHL	–	–	–	|

*****

(Player statistics © www.eliteprospects.com)
(Player information, photos: canadiens.com)
(Video: nhl.com)