While many wonder what impact Montreal’s newest Canadiens will have on the team’s success, there seems to be a lot of speculation about players from other teams being able to help the Habs.

There’s certainly some logic, and rationale to rumors suggesting the Canadiens are looking to make improvements to their second line, but with Gainey having positioned the team up against next year’s salary cap, trading is a difficult option to entertain. Especially, when the supposed target has a no-trade clause, a cap-hit of 6.3 million dollars, and is headed into a contract year.

After the San Jose Sharks completed another tremendous regular season, followed by another disastrous flop in the post-season, the word was that GM Doug Wilson would be conducting a major overhaul of his roster.

To date, no significant changes have been made. Though it seems for San Jose to carve out a new destiny in the NHL, they’ll likely be inclined to move either Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton. It seems highly doubtful that Joe Thornton will be the one they eventually decide to move. And given the size of Marleau’s contract, there’s a chance Wilson can’t put together a reasonable deal that would coincide with his plan to bring a Stanley Cup to San Jose, or at the very least, a chance that Marleau’s value won’t be nearly as high this off-season as what it could be at the deadline.

So…Patrick Marleau to the Canadiens?

-If you think the Canadiens are up against the cap, you better believe San Jose is. For the Canadiens to fit Marleau under the cap they’d have to move roughly 5.5 million dollars in salary, leaving them with very little wiggle room. As for the Sharks, they’ll be looking for young, cap-friendly talent, and the wiggle room to make other significant changes.

-What do the Canadiens have that San Jose would consider being an improvement over their current set-up with Marleau and Thornton down the middle? They might not have anything, but if they were able to free up some room by making a trade with another team, they’d be more able to afford to trade for Marleau without having to trade a lot of salary—and they have ample young talent to deal from.

-But the biggest question is: Would Marleau waive his no-trade clause to play in Montreal?
If he would, there’s very little doubt as to what kind of impact that would have on Montreal’s roster. All due respect to Tomas Plekanec, but Marleau and Gomez offer a much better one-two punch, and there isn’t a player in the league who needs a scene-change more than Patrick Marleau after the last three seasons of turmoil with the Sharks.

Which brings us to another rumor:

Roman Hamrlik…to anyone…for anything; so long as the cap-hit coming back isn’t very significant. Hamrlik has two seasons remaining on a deal that pays him 5.5 million dollars per year. While his salary is hefty given his age, there are certainly some teams who would greatly benefit from his services. Whether a team is willing to take on his contract, while only sending back roughly half the money they’ll have to pay him is certainly debatable.

So, if you’ve been hearing rumors, and there are reports suggesting the Canadiens are talking to teams in an attempt to clear some space, to make some changes to their second line, then there’s reason to believe it. But, don’t count on it happening, and don’t count on it happening immediately. There’s a lot of maneuvering to do in order to accomplish something like brining Patrick Marleau to Montreal, and that’s without taking into account the competition for his services should Doug Wilson publically offer him around the league.

As for moving Roman Hamrlik, the Canadiens could potentially risk giving a roster spot to Yannick Weber, or P.K. Subban in his place, which would essentially move Hal Gill into the top 4, unless they were able to get a solid defenseman back in that deal, or in another deal.

As for keeping Tomas Plekanec, vs. moving Tomas Plekanec…Even if Plekanec comes back and plays a whale of a regular season, has he ever shown the signs of a player who the Canadiens can depend on in the playoffs? Does he have what it takes to be a winner? Many have suggested that Marleau isn’t capable of being a playoff-performer either. His salary is more than double Plekanec’s, and both are up for contracts at the end of the year. So it seems to me there’s a lot in the way of making these rumors come to fruition.

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