Montreal Canadiens Links
Marc Bergevin was busy this week; here’s a rundown of what went down:
- Daniel Briere was traded to the Avalanche in exchange for P.A. Parenteau and a fifth-round pick.
- Josh Gorges was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a second-round pick. Apparently Montreal had a deal in place to send him to Toronto for Cody Franson, however Gorges refused to waive his NTC to play with the Leafs.
- RD Mike Weaver was re-signed to a one-year extension.
- UFA Tom Gilbert was signed for two years, at $2.8M per year.
- Faceoff specialist Manny Malhotra was signed to a one-year contract, at $850K.
- There was a common theme when Gilbert and Malhotra spoke about the reason they signed in Montreal: They want to win.
- Czech winger Jiri Sekac signed an entry-level contract.
- Goaltender Joey MacDonald was signed to a two-year, two-way contract. Keep an eye out for a Peter Budaj trade.
- P.K. Subban, Lars Eller and Joonas Nattinen were all given qualifying offers.
- Capgeek states the Canadiens hold $15.1M left in cap space, leaving a fair amount of money available once Subban and Eller are signed. Bergevin seems to be aware that the Habs are in a decent position cap-wise moving forward.
- The Habs have expressed interest in right winger Radim Vrbata. He’d be a good fit on the team, although several teams are in on the chase.
- Francis Bouillon is confident that he’ll remain with the Canadiens, even if they haven’t offered him a contract yet.
Here’s what Bergevin had to say following a busy opening day of free agency:
Getting back to the draft, first-round pick Nikita Scherbak was overwhelmed following his selection, and here’s a quick video showing the aftermath of being picked by the Canadiens in the NHL draft:
Around the NHL
- The entire free agency tracker is available here.
- Brian Gionta will be joining the Buffalo Sabres next year, we wish him all the best of luck.
- Mike Blunden will be on his way to Tampa, or rather Syracuse.
- One of the best value signings of the day was Brad Richards, who joined the Blackhawks for $2M.
- Thomas Vanek ended up with the Wild, on a three year contract.
- The Senators finally traded Jason Spezza, however the haul wasn’t exactly great.
- The Capitals signed both Orpik and Niskanen to ridiculous deals.
- Iginla’s Boston experiment is over, as he joined the Avalanche for three years.
- Tampa made quite the coup by signing Anton Stralman.
- The Flames did this … hahahaha
- The Canucks picked up a starting goaltender. Ryan Miller is on his way to Vancouver.
Are you happy with the moves Marc Bergevin has made in the last few days?
| Yes | 445 |
| No | 12 |
| Undecided | 50 |
| Go Banana! | 34 |
