The Montreal Canadiens entered the offseason with the always dangerous combination of salary cap space and open roster spots. It didn't take Bob Gainey long to start reconstructing his roster, making the head-scratching trade for Scott Gomez and his gigantic contract on Tuesday, a move that was panned by pretty much every analyst/blogger/and fan outside of New York City. On Wednesday, when the free agent frenzy officially opened, Gainey continued his roster overhaul, and essentially cornered the market on small, undersized forwards, and reunited Gomez with one of his former teammates from his New Jersey glory days.
Welcome to the team...
Mike Cammalleri. The first big move on Wednesday for Montreal, the 5-foot-9 forward signed a five-year, $30 million deal with the Canadiens after a career-year in Calgary. He's coming off a 39-goal, 82-point campaign with the Flames, the second 30-goal season of his six-year career. His 82 points in 2008-09 would have led the Canadiens by 17.
Brian Gionta. And here we have the likely winger for Gomez. Gionta has never come close to repeating his 48-goal performance from 2005-06, but he's still good for 20-25 goals, and provides plenty of speed. Perhaps his presence could help return Gomez to his pre-Ranger days and actually extract some value out of that contract. He signed for $25 million over five years.
Hal Gill. The addition of Gill was a pretty good indication that Mike Komisarek wouldn't be returning to Montreal, and sure enough, the 27-year-old signed on with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gill brings plenty of size to the equation, but he also looks like he has cement in his skates from time-to-time. He'll help out on the penalty kill in terms of clearing the front of the net and blocking shots, and while he's not better than Komisarek, he's an upgrade over players such as Francois Bouillon.
Jaroslav Spacek. A 10-year veteran/journeyman, Spacek led all Sabres defensemen in scoring a season ago, matching his career-high with 45 points.
As far as Gill and Spacek are concerned, Habs Eyes On The Price is slightly confused by Gainey's decision to sign them before Komisarek found a new home.
With Komisarek's money, the Canadiens added Jaroslav Spacek at $3.5M per year. He'll be 38 when that contract ends. They also took on lumbering Hal Gill, who doesn't quite make up in reach, what he lacks in speed. Add in his $1.2, and you have Komisarek salary but little of his attributes ... Had the Canadiens signed Spacek and Gill as a reaction to losing Komisarek, such a reaction would almost seem plausible. Why Gainey signed them first, and then signed off ofn Komisarek is a riddle of vaste proportions!Montreal still has to worry about signing restricted free agents Tomas Plekanec, Matt D'agostini and Guillaume Latendresse, while Tuesday and Wednesday's deals also likely spell the end of Saku Koivu, Alexei Kovalev and Alex Tangauy in Montreal. So, are the Canadiens a better team as we sit today, and will the free-agent spending spree pay off in the long run? If recent history is any indicator, teams that build through free agency tend to come away disappointed. We've seen what's happened with the New York Rangers over the years, while last year's version of the Tampa Bay Lightning, considered to be a big winner in early July, was nothing short of a disaster on the ice.
Offensively, this year's version of the Canadiens should be more dangerous, more exciting, and definitely more interesting (on paper, anyway). But there's still some question marks on the blue line, even with Andrei Markov, and Carey Price is still in, let's call it, a developmental stage.
