All looking at a new contract. The Habs have 25.7mill in cap free, with the big contract going out in Hamrlik's. Gill will probably be done as youth will be brought in.
I know Gorges will be looking at a raise, and depending on how Markov is based on health this year he would be looking at the same contract(money wise) or a bit of a raise. Kostitsyn will be on a contract year, expect him to play well this year. Those are the contracts that I think will be looking at the most money.
So say we resign all those players I listed except Hamrlik and Gill. Say we use 17mill in cap to lock them all down. What do you think the Habs will do with the remaining say 8.7mill. Do they just bring in the youth, and build them up with the core players we have now, or do we fill the spots, especially defense with some big good dman.
(This is assuming, players don't get dealt through the year.) Everything could change say Hamrlik gets traded and we get a player with more than a year left on their deal, or say we deal Spacek get the same return like Hamrlik?
But if the roster remained the same going to FA, what would you think would be Montreal's options and do you think they should bring up some youth or get some high end talent to play for them from FA?
There's guys like kristo, leblanc, avstin, desharnais, trotter, white, etc etc on the way on thr forward group and two near ready d-men in carle and weber. I say we go with youth, and if necessary, we spend the remaining cash on acquiring a top player.
The D I would guess will be re-shaped the most. There are a lot of unanswered questions:
How will Markov play post injury? What will his demands be should he bounce back in good form?
Will Gorges be consistent? He was great in the playoffs but got off to a slow start IMO. What will Gorges' demands be if he has a good season?
How will Subban progress?
What will the other youngsters do?
Will Spacek stay injury free?
The list for d-men in 2011 UFA does not look overwhelming. Markov could be looking for a decent payday as it will be his last big contract I surmise. My best guess is Chara will re-sign with Boston.
On offense the core of Cammalleri, Gionta, Pleks and Gomez are pretty much in place so again the question remarks are Pouliot and AK. No telling if the Montreal media will succeed in running AK out of town. I can't say the list of UFA forwards is too overwhelming either.
# 1 Priority: Defense (Hamrlik although overpaid leaves a big void offensively and defensively).
# 2 Priority: Offense
# 3 Priority: Goaltending
Maybe squeeze coaching in there somewhere. LOL
I don't see much in free agency so IMO the kids will have to do some progressing. I would not discount the idea of re-signing some other guys besides the obvious.
Acquire a legit top 4 D : I would trade/offer sheet for Seabrook ( he's going to be RFA and I don't think chicago have enough cap space for a raise ). Or sign Bieska....
2) Bring 1 or 2 young player ( Avstin,Pacciorrety)
I would sign a D,Chara is an UFA and Weber will be a RFA,I would send him a huge offer that Nashville probably wouldn't match
That would be terrific. Though, Habs having the $$$, would we be really willing to part with that many 1st picks.
Well, ok we certainly do a lot better with 2nd round picks than any other team and our 1st round pick record isn't great under Timmins, still, what is it? 4 first picks if you really don't want Nashville to match...
And that would also open-up pandora's box for our future RFAs. Guys like Subban, Kristo and Tinordi and everyone of them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stjonnypopo
I figure he'll re-sign before July first, and if not, Nashville will match ANY offer sheet for their superstar defenceman.
I don't see us acquiring any more big names until our three contracts (Gomez, Gionta, Cammalleri) expire.
Habs ALWAYS spend mostly up to the cap.
All our probable UFA players are signed except for Dmen. The rest are RFAs and it's just crazy how much fans here overate RFA contract upgrades. How much more did Price make again? +500k Lapierre? +225k Pouliot? +500k
No one can say for sure if UFAs will be signed or not, because we sure do NOT know how AK, Pouliot or Eller will perform, and in extent, how much more they will make.
What we know for sure is that Hammer will be UFA and if he comes back, he'll take a major paycut. We also know that Gill will be a UFA, and if he comes back, will make close to the same amount or maybe just a bit less. We can speculate with a good level of certainty that Markov will sign back close to the same amount or just a bit more. We can also speculate with a good level of certainty that the cap will rise again next year, probably close to 62 mil.
We'll have money to spend and a spot or two to fill on D, which we WON'T be able to immediatly replace internally. A Dman betweem 4-7 mil will be the likely target.
We also know that Spacek's buyout is 1,3 per year for two years after this season, if it's what's needed to get rid of him, if getting rid of him is needed. This would mean cap space in the order of between 2,5 and 3,8, again, if needed.
There's guys like kristo, leblanc, avstin, desharnais, trotter, white, etc etc on the way on thr forward group and two near ready d-men in carle and weber. I say we go with youth, and if necessary, we spend the remaining cash on acquiring a top player.
We have a lot of veterans on this team and if we don't make the playoffs this year, we might have a lot less when we start next year. The onus will be on the core group to play well enough to keep their jobs, not AK or Pouliot, imo.
Bolded are players we should really be taking a look at. Bieksa seems like he would be a good fit with Markov, Backes would bring a much needed physical element to our top 6, Gagne is a great 2-way player who could score 30 goals and Semin is just too offensively gifted to ignore (although it would be best to get rid of AK if this were to happen).
I would add Chris Phillips to the list. He's a steady guy. Christian Erhoff may be of interest if Markov moves on. Bieska has always seemed like a risk as a no 2 d man but he has the tools to be useful.
Perhaps there are some well paid d man on teams looking to shed salary that may become an option. As long as they're not Brian Campbell.
Has anyone seen much of Eric Brewer?
I can see both Gill and Hamrlik re-signing, especially if Weber, Carle and I guess even O'Byrne don't take big steps forward.
In my Be A Gm mode I made a few trades. Firstly I gave up 2 picks for Doughty (Do you guys think Dean would give up Doughty for even 2 first round picks? LOL)
Secondly I gave up Hammer + Picks for Backes.
Lets just say after calling up Subban and Eller, making some adjustments to my lines, the team rocks. (Been simulating to see how they do)
