Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette: The Montreal Canadiens offense ranked 31st in the league and their defense was at the bottom as well. What once may have been a rebuild but now look like a teardown.
So much depends on Carey Price and his health. Price will be 35-years old when next season starts and has four years left at $10.5 million. Back up Jake Allen also has injury concerns.
The Canadiens have said they hope to be active in the free agent market but they don’t have a lot of projected cap space to work with. Shea Weber can eventually be moved to the LTIR. Trading Jeff Petry and say signing Kris Letang $7 million doesn’t really get them further ahead.
Pending RFAs Alexander Romanov and Rem Pitlick will need new deals.
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: The Montreal Canadiens currently have over $80 million committed to 17 players for next year.
So much depends on Carey Price’s situation and it’s one thing they aren’t clear on. GM Kent Hughes.
“Of course, it complicates things. It would be better for us to have things in black and white, but that’s not our situation right now.”
Price has said the idea of being a starter next season could be impossible. He’s said he hopes to be able to fulfill his remaining four years but he is aware that last Friday’s game could be his last.
He’ll be getting more opinions on his knee and more surgery is a possibility.
It sounds like Hughes isn’t interested in moving Brendan Gallagher and his remaining five years at $6.5 million
Hughes didn’t have much to say about Joel Armia or Jonathan Drouin. Both could be traded, along with Paul Byron. When asked if they would retain any salary, Hughes said.
“It would depend on what we were acquiring. If we gained short-term flexibility, what does it allow us to do? We’re kind of discussing it abstract instead of in a concrete example; at the end of the day, we have to see where we’re going with this group, what players are willing to take on in terms of responsibility. So, if we trade someone and retain (money) and we’ve got to get another player and we were able to save X dollars, what does it do for us?”
The Canadiens could move Jeff Petry’s $6.25 million contract.
They’ll need to add a veteran defenseman.
Hughes has spoken to the agents of some of their free agents.
They could try again to move Shea Weber’s contract.
The Penguins are on the road against the NY Rangers and are
+120 on the moneyline with Betway