5 Offseason Moves - Montreal Canadiens

[QuebecPride]

I moved your thread to the Habs board since you'll get more responses there.

1, 2 and 3 are no-brainers, agree all the way (although I think Bergevin needs to do a little better than Kris Versteeg at this point but I agree with the rest of the names as an ideal shopping list).

4 I agree with but with a caveat. I think a healthy Petry for a full year and a more experienced Beaulieu will help take some minutes off Markov. But you can't expect sweeping changes there. Bergevin doesn't have the cap or the assets to go shopping for top six scoring and find a new #2-3 defenseman, a D group that only gets weakened if you move Emelin. I think the Habs are going to have to look within for a solution there and lessen Markov's minutes by committee, as opposed to adding a shiny fresh face.

Don't agree with #5 at all really, I think the era of the "heavier" 4th line is behind us and using Danault and Matteau as examples of guys you want to see more of when both more or less flopped (or showed nothing special) in their year-end auditions isn't making a great case IMO. I like Mitchell as 4C and Byron earned his keep. Flynn I could take or leave but as a 13th F maybe rotating with 1 of Danault or Matteau I could live with.

Danault is not what I would label as a heavy 4th liner, he's more in the mold of a speedy checker.