Adding to the Defence

Last season ended with the Montreal Canadiens missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year. However, there was a silver lining to the last campaign. This time they came just five points short of the post season, winning eleven more games then in year one and putting up 29 more points then the inaugural season.

This off-season Montreal knew if they were to make that last step and finally make the post season they had to upgrade a very poor defence. The Habs have a few very good young blueliners that will be able to help this team in the future but they need to fill some of those gaps now. It looks like GM Darren Sawyer has made some good strides to get that done. It started on June 6^th when they dealt young forward prospect Devante Smith-Pelly to Vancouver for Christian Ehrhoff. The German defencemen is a steady defencemen and can add some offence, scoring 20 goals back in 2011-12. Sawyer was happy to get a chance to acquire 31 year old, “We think Christian can eat up some of the minutes we leaned on Travis Hamonic for. Our goal was to help out Travis and add to our top four and I think we did that this summer”. The other addition in that top four was Alex Edler, acquired in a deal with Detroit. The Canadiens paid a big price, giving up prospect Griffin Reinhart. Trading the young prospect wasn't something Montreal was looking to do but as Reinhart is probably a couple seasons away from being a top four defencman in this league, and the Habs need someone in that spot come September, it was a deal they almost had to make. It's not like there was a lot of options “There just isn't a lot out there in free agency and guys are wanting a lot in return for there top four defence. We might have been able to get something closer to the start of the season but then you have to think about how that effects your cap numbers today and going forward”. Sawyer is also very happy with the progress of Tyson Strachan, Michael Stone and Mark Cundari. Those three should fill out the rest of the blueline spots in Montreal.

Montreal isn't expected to make an impact during free agency, focusing on adding younger players that would be able to play in Hamilton. Sawyer will look to re-sign a few of the teams upcoming UFA's and RFA's, “We'd like to get a few guys signed if we can and see what other players are looking for. Next summer could be a big year in free agency and we don't want to commit to a guy today and have nothing left for next summer. There is a lot of time to get guys resigned, I think taking your time and having that flexibility next year will be important”.