Who will Gauthier target next?

[jmaac1]

Now that Gauthier got are priority signings out of the way, what does he look for now? Defensive depth or a bottom six grinder?

I for one think we still need a bottom 6 forward with some scoring ability considering we lost both pouliot-13g/17a=30 points and halpern-11g/15a=26 points. And also to put in to thought that eller won't be ready to go till november, so this becomes a must.

Montreal currently has 8.3 million in cap space available according to capgeek, and with the expected signings of gorges and white, montreal should have around 4.2 million in cap space left. Therefore gauthier should have about 1.8 to 2 million to spend on that bottom 6 forward and leave the rest for a in season pick up in case of injury. Makes sense? Well anyways i put together a small list of players that remain on the market, that i believe would makes sense for the habs.

Blast away

1. Anthony Stewart- 80GP-14 goals 25 assists for 39 points, finally had his breakout year, he made 630 000 last year and is in line for a raise. He could be had from anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million, and considering he's a physical specimen at 6"2 240 who could drop the gloves and is from montreal, he would be a perfect fit.

2. Zenon Konopka- 82GP- 2 goals 7 assists for 9 points, not really a guy with scoring ability but a very good faceoff man (57.7% good for fourth in the league) who will drop the gloves against anyone (300 penalty minutes) and is a high character guy. with a cap hit of 600 000 last year we could get him at a very reasonable price.

3. Rob Niedermayer- 71GP- 5 goals 14 assists for 19 points, a big physical forward who provides strong veteran leadership on and off the ice, he is a stanley cup winner, and would be a great mentor for the younger players. And with cap hit of 1.2 million last year, he can be had for around the same price. He would look good in a habs uniform.

[PMAC]

I like that list. I would prefer Stewart or Konopka simply for the pugilistic aspect, but I wouldn't be unhappy with Neidermayer either.

Now that Gauthier got are priority signings out of the way, what does he look for now? Defensive depth or a bottom six grinder?

I for one think we still need a bottom 6 forward with some scoring ability considering we lost both pouliot-13g/17a=30 points and halpern-11g/15a=26 points. And also to put in to thought that eller won't be ready to go till november, so this becomes a must.

Montreal currently has 8.3 million in cap space available according to capgeek, and with the expected signings of gorges and white, montreal should have around 4.2 million in cap space left. Therefore gauthier should have about 1.8 to 2 million to spend on that bottom 6 forward and leave the rest for a in season pick up in case of injury. Makes sense? Well anyways i put together a small list of players that remain on the market, that i believe would makes sense for the habs.

Blast away

1. Anthony Stewart- 80GP-14 goals 25 assists for 39 points, finally had his breakout year, he made 630 000 last year and is in line for a raise. He could be had from anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million, and considering he's a physical specimen at 6"2 240 who could drop the gloves and is from montreal, he would be a perfect fit.

2. Zenon Konopka- 82GP- 2 goals 7 assists for 9 points, not really a guy with scoring ability but a very good faceoff man (57.7% good for fourth in the league) who will drop the gloves against anyone (300 penalty minutes) and is a high character guy. with a cap hit of 600 000 last year we could get him at a very reasonable price.

3. Rob Niedermayer- 71GP- 5 goals 14 assists for 19 points, a big physical forward who provides strong veteran leadership on and off the ice, he is a stanley cup winner, and would be a great mentor for the younger players. And with cap hit of 1.2 million last year, he can be had for around the same price. He would look good in a habs uniform.

[patience is a virtue]

Impressed about Cole - the best UFA option available to PG and he made it happen. I'm surprised Carolina let him go.

Tough to say whether PG adds a bottom-6 centre. Probably, but my guess would be a vet on a one year contract. After signing Cole $4.5M for four, they really need to leave cap space for PK, Carey and Eller next season.

[jmaac1]

I agree that they have to save money next season for price and subban, but if they end up signing a bottom 6 forward for 1.5 to 2 million dollars they would still have about 2.3 milliion left and add the fact that montreal has 11 million coming off the books next year and a possible salary cap hike next season then its more than doable.

Plus don't discourage the fact that montreal could always trade, and they would have a great bargaining chip in gomez. for next year or possibly this year with handful of teams still way under the cap limit.

Edited July 2, 2011 by jmaac1

[dlbalr]

I agree that they have to save money next season for price and subban, but if they end up signing a bottom 6 forward for 1.5 to 2 million dollars they would still have about 2.3 milliion left and add the fact that montreal has 11 million coming off the books next year and a possible salary cap hike next season then its more than doable.

Plus don't discourage the fact that montreal could always trade, and they would have a great bargaining chip in gomez. for next year or possibly this year with handful of teams still way under the cap limit.

Don't fall into the trap of the Habs have x amount coming off the books which will be enough to re-sign Price and Subban. They have 5 UFA's, some of that money will be earmarked for them as well (or replacements). Eller and Yemelin will be RFA's as well and may very well be due raises. Also, the cap isn't going up next year, it will be going down after a hard fought CBA where the owners will fight to either drop the NHLPA's 5% escalator or drop the percentage of revenues that the players get. After yesterday's spending spree, I'm more sure of that now than ever. The Canadian dollar is also down a decent amount already from last year, that too will send the cap back down a bit.

[dlbalr]

3. Rob Niedermayer- 71GP- 5 goals 14 assists for 19 points, a big physical forward who provides strong veteran leadership on and off the ice, he is a stanley cup winner, and would be a great mentor for the younger players. And with cap hit of 1.2 million last year, he can be had for around the same price. He would look good in a habs uniform.

It was an interesting idea but he is off to Lugano of the Swiss league. He certainly would have fit the bill of a veteran 4th line C though.

[jmaac1]

my god the hurricanes just signed stewart to a 2 year 1.8 million dollar contract, why wouldn't gauthier sign him the guy had 39 points last year, great acquisition by the canes.

Dam it!!

[fromage]

its not always possible to simply throw money at a player and he'll sign here...

[dlbalr]

my god the hurricanes just signed stewart to a 2 year 1.8 million dollar contract, why wouldn't gauthier sign him the guy had 39 points last year, great acquisition by the canes.

Dam it!!

Great acquisition? Hardly. Consider this, the Jets, a non-playoff team for several years, deemed him unworthy of a QO of less than $700,000. There was probably a reason for that. Here's my guess as to what it is:

In his final 31 games of the season, he had 2 goals. From March 1st through to the end of the season (17 games), he was a plus player a whole 1 time, while going a cumulative -11. He had a great start to the year but from about January on, he played at the level of a minor leaguer. His size and age makes him intriguing as a 4th liner, new team, new fit, yadda yadda but this is not anything to get overly excited about.

[jmaac1]

I've stated in my previous post about this topic a couple of possible targets in Stewart, konopka and Niedermayer, whom were deemed good fits in my opinion for montreal's bottom 6. Now i've made an updated list of possibility's for montreal based on the fact that both stewart (my favourite) and niedermayer signed elsewhere and that there isn't too much interest in Konopka from the habs standpoint. And also because of a bunch of new rumblings going around the web in which i found interesting, so here we go.

1) Jamie Langenbrunner- 70GP 9 Goals 23 Assists for 32 points- Yes he made 2.8 million last year and will probably look for a contract in the same ballpark (so he won't be cheap), but in my opinion he would be the best fit for the habs considering he is a stanley cup champion who brings tons of leadership, is a big body, and who also has familiarity with our team ( played with gomez and gionta on the devils). And even though there has been zero talk about him signing with the habs, he does fit that pierre gauthier criteria of a possible under the radar signing.

2) Steve bernier- 68GP 5 goals 10 assists for 15 points- Plain and simple he can get you 10-15 goals a year, is a big body who can throw his weight around, is from quebec, and can be had for cheap. Yes he's slow, yes he is inconsistent, yes he has work ethic issues, in a way he kind of sounds like pouliot, but I think that's a stretch. But nevertheless could be a solid pick up for the bottom six. Also to note that all though he had a horrible year this year, he did play for the "panthers" which explains his offensive numbers and -14, but prior to last year he has a career +16, so I think he knows what he's doing on the ice.

3) Viktor Stalberg- 77GP 12 goals 12 assists for 24 points- Yes i know he's a RFA with the blackhawks and that stan bowman publicly announced that the hawks plan to sign him along with frolik and campoli (other RFA's) but according to hockeybuzz and bleacher report the hawks and habs have held trade negociations about one of the three considering the hawks don't have enough money to sign all three. Prompting me to believe that stalberg is the most likely of them, considering frolik is the most talented and that campoli rounds out their defensive pairings. And though it is a long shot to happen, adding stalberg would give montreal a big (6'3) young (24) asset who i think can be a 20 goal scorer in this league.

Honorable mention for- Konopka, Grier, and Winchester as well.

[ForumGhost]

I still think Habs most pressing need is on defense. PG trying to resign Hamrlik shows that he agrees.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

I still think Habs most pressing need is on defense. PG trying to resign Hamrlik shows that he agrees.

Two no-brainers: beefiness and faceoff prowess in the bottom-6; and proven NHL depth on the blueline. These may seem like minor matters, but both are indispensable if we are to have a pretense of being contenders - just the sort of small but important decisions that a good GM won't flub.

[Chris]

I don't know what PG will do. Certainly signing a Sopel would help. I don't know what he'll add to the forwards. The roster looks pretty full. I would go after Konopka who would solve some problems for the habs, mainly toughness and a RH center who can win faceoffs.

It also depends how amny player PG will carry: As of now

Pacioretty Gomez Gionta

Cammy Pleks Cole

AK46 Eller Moen (played well together last year

Trotter Darche Decharnais White

Markov Gorges

Gill Subban

Spacek Weber Yemelin

Price and Budaj

[TruthMonger]

All things being equal, face-offs are a nice skill to have, but I would hope it doesn't factor into any decision overly much. Unless you're comparing the best face-off guys in the league to the worst, the difference really isn't as great as it's sometimes made out to be. An average guy like Pleks takes about 20 face-offs a game and wins 10 (50%). A face-off whiz like Konopka wins 57%, which comes out to 11.4 on 20, or just over one extra win per game. So while I'd agree that one extra face-off win per game is not a bad thing, I would never want it to factor into free agent selection more than skating, hitting, or shooting.

[alfredoh2009]

Pacioretty Gomez Gionta

Cammy Pleks Cole

AK46 Eller Moen (played well together last year

Trotter Darche Decharnais White

Price and Budaj

With Eller hurt, I think the Habs will wait it out until the season starts unless there is a trade that materializes. For the time I think the bottom six will be:

AK46 Desharnais Darche

Moen Engquist White

Trotter, Russel and Conboy could take Pyatt's spot until Eller gets back.

Edited July 5, 2011 by alfredoh2009

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

With Eller hurt, I think the Habs will wait it out until the season starts unless there is a trade that materializes. For the time I think the bottom six will be:

AK46 Desharnais Darche

Moen Engquist White

Trotter, Russel and Conboy could take Pyatt's spot until Eller gets back.

You may be right...but the bottom-6 is looking a lot like our situation on the blueline, where every single year we find ourselves scrambling to fill the same hole. On D, it's been picks for Schneider, Bergeron as a UFA, picks for Wiz - all to fill in the hole left by Streit years ago. (If Markov stays healthy, Subban may finally represent a permanent solution here. If not, well, kiss some more 2nd round picks goodbye). On FW, it's been Metropolit off waivers, then a 2nd-round pick for Moore, then Halpern as a UFA. Always the same story: we need a solid veteran C who can win the draw and bring a stable game to the bottom 6. I suppose it's hard to get too agitated about it, but you can well ask why we didn't just keep, say, Moore in the first place.

[jmaac1]

With Eller hurt, I think the Habs will wait it out until the season starts unless there is a trade that materializes. For the time I think the bottom six will be:

AK46 Desharnais Darche

Moen Engquist White

Trotter, Russel and Conboy could take Pyatt's spot until Eller gets back.

I don't know about you but I feel that montreal's bottom 6 got less talented with the losses of pouliot and halpern. And Engquist taking eller's spot till he gets back? I don't know about that, he is at best a depth forward and I seriously think that there are much better alternatives in free agency than him. No disrespect to him but I just can't see him replace the offensive production that was lost with benny and halpern. And with montreal having around 2.5 to 3 million to spend on a free agent (note that rest of the space is for gorges and white) why not go out there and pick up a proven veterans like a langenbrunner or a grier, or even bernier for that matter who is still young and has shown that he can put the puck in the net. Could you imagine our third line of AK(who can easily score 20 a year, Eller (who's just gonna get better and better), and Lagenbrunner (who gives you 45 to 50 points a year) it just plain scary for a third line and its even nerve wrecking considering that montreal can make it happen.

Edited July 5, 2011 by jmaac1

[jmaac1]

You may be right...but the bottom-6 is looking a lot like our situation on the blueline, where every single year we find ourselves scrambling to fill the same hole. On D, it's been picks for Schneider, Bergeron as a UFA, picks for Wiz - all to fill in the hole left by Streit years ago. (If Markov stays healthy, Subban may finally represent a permanent solution here. If not, well, kiss some more 2nd round picks goodbye). On FW, it's been Metropolit off waivers, then a 2nd-round pick for Moore, then Halpern as a UFA. Always the same story: we need a solid veteran C who can win the draw and bring a stable game to the bottom 6. I suppose it's hard to get too agitated about it, but you can well ask why we didn't just keep, say, Moore in the first place.

I agree with you 100% on what you just said. To let moore walk was the one mistake that gauthier made in his tenure so far and to note probably wishes he hadn't. But gauthier can still make up for it with the possible signing of one of the aboved mentioned players, preferably langenbrunner. So please gauthier make the right decision and sign one.

[alfredoh2009]

bottom 6 got less talented

yes, it is less talented. But I think the CH is looking for bottom-6 players with good work ethic, size and secondary scoring. Pyatt and Pouliot didn't provide that, and I do not think the remaining UFAs are any better than what we let go.

With Leblanc, Avtsin, Beger one or two seasons away I think that the best option would be to work out a trade in order to get the players that fill better the team needs than going for has-beens like gier and langenbrunner.

On defense, Carle and Nash are fine depth players.

[thehabbit]

Maybe Gautier didnt let Moore walk, maybe Moore just wanted to sign with Tampa.

[Wamsley01]

Maybe Gautier didnt let Moore walk, maybe Moore just wanted to sign with Tampa.

I can't believe we are talking about a 3rd liner 14 months after he played his last game. He played 14 minutes per game.

The Habs replaced him and were a better team last season even though they didn't get the same miracles and bounces that lead them to a Semi-final berth.

These guys are a dime a dozen in the NHL and can be replaced for 800k or from within.

[jmaac1]

yes, it is less talented. But I think the CH is looking for bottom-6 players with good work ethic, size and secondary scoring. Pyatt and Pouliot didn't provide that, and I do not think the remaining UFAs are any better than what we let go.

With Leblanc, Avtsin, Beger one or two seasons away I think that the best option would be to work out a trade in order to get the players that fill better the team needs than going for has-beens like gier and langenbrunner.

On defense, Carle and Nash are fine depth players.

Like you said leblanc, avtsin, berger, are one or two seasons away, I agree with you on this, but when you mentioned a good work ethic, size and secondary scoring. Doesn't langenbrunner fit that bill? size 6'1 205, work ethic he is a proven winner who has been very consistent over his career, secondary scoring he'll give you 35 to 40 points and don't discard the fact that he has 33 career playoff goals and a total of 88 points for his career in the playoffs. Yes he is 35 and probably past his prime but i wouldn't count on it considering (he had 61 points in 2009-2010 season) and its not like he will be signed longterm he's a 1 year rental, just enough time in my opinion for either avtsin or leblanc or maybe both will make the big jump to the habs.

Edited July 5, 2011 by jmaac1

[jmaac1]

By the way Renaud lavoie just tweeted that although montreal didn't offer konopka a contract. He said gauthier is working to get a bigger forward so stay tuned.

[alfredoh2009]

Doesn't langenbrunner fit that bill?

to be honest, I do not know much about langenbrunner, you are probably right about him.

Let me take back my comment about him and just say that I do not mind if we wait it out, and that I believe that the CH is working on a trade rather than going for an UFA since the choices left unsigned may not fit the team's needs.

[jmaac1]

to be honest, I do not know much about langenbrunner, you are probably right about him.

Let me take back my comment about him and just say that I do not mind if we wait it out, and that I believe that the CH is working on a trade rather than going for an UFA since the choices left unsigned may not fit the team's needs.

forget about trade possibilities apparently gauthier is negotiating with a couple of FA's one of them could be Jason Arnott, so all our theory's might get thrown out the window, stay tuned.

Edited July 5, 2011 by jmaac1