What facts? All I see is an opinion and the lack of evidence to support your "facts". What GMs would pick those three MTL players over three or four of the Anaheim players listed below? The Montreal players might produce slightly more but considering the salaries, age and future potential of these players Anaheim has the much better situation. The 7 million Anahem saves on the players could be used to fill roster spots with a Daniel Briere and a decent veteran.
Lets take a look at the salary of these players.
"Just stating facts"
Getzlaf- 714.4K
Penner- 450k
chistov- 800k
Perry- 684k
2.64m
vs
kovalev- 4.5m
koivu- 4.75m
higgins- 673k
9.9m
"Just stating facts"
Getzlaf : 39 pts last season
Penner : 7 pts last season
Chistov : first season in the NHL since 03-04 when he had 18 pts.
Perry : 25 pts last season
Kovalev : 65 pts last season
Koivu : 62 pts last season
Higgins : 38 pts last season
You're comparing apples and oranges here.
If you want to compare Getzlav, Penner and Perry (Chistov wouldn't have a spot on Montreal's lineup IMO), you need to compare them with Higgins, Perezhogin and Latendresse and then, you get pretty even with age and salaries. Anaheim couldn't sign "a Daniel Briere" because they are paying their top 2 defensemen 13 millions / year.
Anaheim's trio has clearly the advantage, even though Higgins is looking as good, or even better than Getzlav so far.
Now :
Selanne - McDonald - Kunitz - Niedermayer
VS
Koivu - Kovalev - Samsonov - Ryder
One could argue that Selanne and McDonald are better than Koivu and Kovalev because of their points total last season, but Koivu and Kovalev bring leadership and always raise to the occasion.
Now, if anybody wants to compare Kunitz and Niedermayer to Samsonov and Ryder ... There's also Mike Johnson, a two-way player who had two 60 pts seasons in Phoenix ...
Anyways ...