According to Pierre LeBrun, the Montreal Canadiens looked into the possibility of bringing back defenceman Alexei Emelin from the Vegas Golden Knights.
Hearing that the Habs have investigated trying to get Emelin back from Vegas. Not sure if they’ll proceed, however…
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 28, 2017
The timing of this is not known. Was this done before the Habs traded for David Schlemko? After?
Here is what we do know. The Canadiens are looking for defencemen, especially on the left side. Emelin is a left-handed defenceman.
On the surface, people are wondering why they would look to reacquire a player like that, after getting a gift with Vegas taking his cap hit off of the books for nothing.
There is the possibility that the Habs were looking for Vegas to retain some salary. Emelin at $2.050 million (which would be what the cap hit would be if Vegas retained 50%) is a lot different than Emelin at $4.1 million.
We also don’t know what the Canadiens would have given up in such a trade. Looking into the possibility is a lot different than actually going through with it.
This isn’t the most encouraging bit of news, as it looks like the Canadiens see value in Emelin that isn’t there, but we also know that Bergevin does his due diligence, and asking the question isn’t the end of the world.
I know it’s hard to give Marc Bergevin any benefit of the doubt, but I also don’t know if it is worth over exaggerating, either.
