Montreal Wrap up

I don't want to offend Canadian readers any more then I have to, and I will have to when I preview Toronto a little later on, so that's the reason for the uh... reserved title above.

The Montreal Canadiens

The owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, Montreal did little to its composition in the offseason. It shipped off Michael Ryder, brought back Andrei "I'm better then Sergei" Kostitsyn and brought in assist-machine Alex Tanguay.

Tanguay is an interesting acquisition. He seems to have been brought in to add to the team's secondary scoring. He comes in at a position at which Montreal is fairly deep, already boasting the aforementioned Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei "for now the lesser but prettier" Kostitsyn, and Christopher Higgins, who has continued to show promise. After Andrei's huge leap forward last year I would guess that Higgins is the one that gets the short end of the stick here. I believe he's spent some time at center so a conversion could be in order, but that position is no less crowded on this team.

Tanguay had a bit of an off year last year, only netting 58 points. That should change this year as he will be working with a talented center, no matter where he ends up, and likely Alexei Kovalev. At 28, Tanguay is too young and talented to not have a bounce back season. That said, the high 70's are probably a little unreachable for him. Tanguay should end up somewhere in the high 60's with 45 or more of those points being assists. Draft accordingly.

The only other offseason moves of note so far are the re-signing of goalie Jaroslav Halak and acquisition of goaltender Marc Denis. This has all happened a little under the radar but says a lot about Montreal's faith, at this time in their presumptive number 1. I know that Carey Price is a national hero in Canada and already has monuments erected to him in town squares but these signings indicate to me a lack of faith in the young netminder and perhaps a bit of "trader's remorse" as it relates to Cristobal Huet.

I like Halak. He's been good when he's been called on to play. I like Denis significantly less. I see him as a buffer signing. He will be the backup to whomever wins the starting role, both so the loser, either Halak or Price, can get more seasoning in the minors and so that they don't feel threatened by the presence of the other.

Don't get me wrong. I believe Price has the tools, but perhaps has not yet acquired the necessary focus. This is a complicated situation that probably won't be resolved even after training camp. As such it deserves your attention on draft day. Carey Price may be the next Patrick Roy, but for at least this year he might be proving that in a tandem. Be wary.