In reality I don't think our roster is all that bad, but I just dislike the system we play and total mindless offensive presence.
We have Carey Price, I get it, MB says defense wins championships, that's great, I agree, but we just looked miserable in the playoffs imo.
Re-sign Petry, trade Plekanec for a scoring winger.
The pro scouting has to do their due diligence to find players that are undervalued by their teams...those are the guys you have to go after imo.
Our roster is better than not-bad. It's a legit playoff team that's been near the top of the EC the last three seasons, which includes seasons when Price was merely good (2013) and merely top-5 (2014). In other words, even without Vezina/Hart Price from 2015, the Habs are a winning team, albeit not at 110-points.
The only weakness is another forward who can bury pucks. A pretty fundamental weakness I admit, but a very focused one. With Petry, plus an emerging Beaulieu and Pateryn, the D is set. So is the secondary scoring and solid two-way play up-front (in theory). As we saw this playoffs, Habs can play a solid shutdown game against strong offensive teams, while generating a good amount of chances. Considering we played Tampa as tough as the Rangers have so far, that's a good sign. Just need better hands to finish those chances. Assuming we don't get a 1st-line forward via trade or UFA, that pair of hands will have to come from one of our top prospects. I doubt Andrighetto, Hudon, Scherbak or Reway will become the next Tyler Johnson, but if any of them show genuine shooting finesse, it might be enough. I'll settle for two solid 2nd lines if we can't get a powerful 1st-line. With a high-end defence and goaltending in place, improving our offence from bottom-tier to mid-pack would make a huge difference.
I've been a big Plekanec fan and still think he's very valuable to the Habs game, but I could see using him as the main piece in a trade for more offensive potential. Whoever we'd get would have to have more potential than simply replacing Plek's 20 goals.