Renaud Lavoie is reporting that the Canadiens want to sign both Mike Brown and Victor Bartley this summer.
Brown was claimed on waivers at the trade deadline, in what was seen at the time as a quick way to acquire a player, seeing as the Canadiens were in California and trades left them with a lack of warm bodies.
However it became quite clear that Brown wasn’t simply a warm body. He was seeing action while players like Sven Andrighetto were relegated to the press box on occasion, and to be perfectly frank, Brown was not very good. You can read his season review here. To his credit, apparently Brown is a good locker room presence.
Of course, there will be those that will state the Habs “play bigger” with Brown in the lineup, and he protects the team from injuries. Yet there’s been no evidence to support this theory. Plenty of opponents took liberties on the Habs’ skilled players while Brown was in the lineup. At this point players like Brown fight players like Chris Neil and Shawn Thornton. They’re essentially keeping each other relevant in a league that’s quickly realizing enforcers have little to no value on a roster.
We’ll see how Marc Bergevin navigates the waters this summer, seeing as he has an overabundance of 4th liner players already on the roster. Even without Brown in the picture, there’s already a lack of spots for players with below-average skills.
Of course, it’s not guaranteed that Bergevin intends on re-signing Brown, however Lavoie does have a decent track record in these matters.
It was also reported that both Tom Gilbert and Ben Scrivens are unlikely to return next year, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to any Habs fans.
