Habs need to jettison those 4 (Markov, Parenteau, Desharnais, and Emelin) and Plekanec. Build around Subban, Price, Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Gallagher. But IMO that is a bad core: a defenseman who can't play D and only one elite forward. They have painted themselves in a corner not only due to the bad contracts, but because the players they selected to build around are good players but not good enough.
I think that Price, Pacioretty and Gallagher are great pieces to build around. I like Subban as a player, but I don't believe he has it in him to be that do-it-all #1 defenseman and for $9 million, that's going to hamper them severely. Yes, he can put up numbers but I don't trust him one bit going up against the opposition's top line players.
I'm not a believer in Galchenyuk one bit. Honestly when I watch him, he's basically Nail Yakupov offensively with a far, far worse shot. I'm a big believer in Yak but it's because he has that cannon, and he also has proven that he'll play the physical game. Galchenyuk so far has disappeared and when he isn't doing anything offensively, he isn't doing anything at all. I think his ceiling is good 2nd line player, but I don't know if he'll reach that with the way he's played and the players surrounding him.
I don't think there's going to be a team that wants Markov or Parenteau. Desharnais I can see some teams having interest if they're desperate for forwards. Emelin would likely have to be swapped for a player with similar term and cap hit. But they have backed themselves into a corner drastically and have basically created a team that relies on their goaltending to win with only 1 game breaking forward.
