Shaw gets a lot of hate here for reasons unknown to me...sure he's overpaid, but he signed the contract that was offered to him. I find he's been good for the Habs, but he can't stay healthy and every time he's playing well, he gets injured.
I'm not sure we should read into this obvious bait article from TSN...if a team shows interest in Shaw, being reluctant can serve to increase the price for his services, I don't know.
Maybe. That said, it falls in line with my belief that Bergevin really doesn't want to get rid of a lot players.
I don't think he trades Shaw, just like I don't think he moves Patches.
Bergevin can hang on to those guys. There is no rush to trade them.
A guy like Plekanec, that's a no brainer because you're not bringing him back (hope not). You can trade him and then sign a guy like Filppula-Letestu-Beagle-Vermette, if you absolute want a Plek type. Might as well just sell Plek, get more picks for this upcoming draft and then see how the hunt for a center plays out with Tavares-Backlund-Stastny available.
I am pretty darn sure that is what Bergevin is hoping for.
Sell Plekanec, Morrow. Get more picks. Cross finger draft in top 5 and if we can get #1 overall, well, that is huge change as early as next year for our defense with Dahlin.
Then you open the bank for Tavares. Go all in for him. If you traded Patches and Shaw for younger unproven talent, well, you are sending the image that you are rebuilding, which is probably not going to be all too appealing to Tavares when he will surely have offers from better teams on the table.
If Tavares passes, hopefully Backlund-Stastny are still available and willing to listen.
In any event, you can definitely sell that the team isn't in a rebuild direction if you keep Patches-Shaw on the team.
So I think Bergevin does very little selling this year. He will keep his guys unless he can pull a trade for a legit player coming back our way. Otherwise he will keep them here, go all in on the open market come July.
He's a fighter right? If he goes down, he'll go down swinging. He will dish out all the cash next summer in an attempt to lure guys here. Maybe he can hit the jackpot by signing Tavares and Carlson, on top of landing the #1 overall. All of this without having to move any big piece on the current roster. That would give a pretty different look to our team.
I am sure that is what he is planning to do.
Taking a step back, looking at the big picture and how this team needed to be in contention starting from the last two years, dropping his ego and admitting selling guys is probably the best direction to take at this point, does not sound like something Bergevin can do. He'll go down swinging.