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Habs Free Agency Boil Down

July 6, 2011, 6:08 PM ET [ Comments]
Habs Talk
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Generally speaking, lower-tier players tend to get signed later on in the free agency period because teams are waiting for the market to settle. A million-dollar player could be worth more on July 1st than he is for the rest of the summer.

In Zenon Konopka's case, it'll only cost the Senators $700, 000 to acquire a player they clearly targeted. This close to July 1st, they got themselves a bargain.

The acquisition proves the Canadiens had not identified Konopka as a target. If they had, they might have told the agent that they were interested and asked for an opportunity to bid on his services should an auction arise.

A lot of Canadiens fans are bitter about a player of size slipping through to a divisional rival, especially because Konopka represented the exact style of player they feel the team is lacking.

Not specifically targeting Konopka shows you that Gauthier is willing to wait to acquire players that are somewhat interchangeable. The Canadiens need size and physicality to fill out the forward group, and they likely feel they'll be able to find that in the later months of the summer. If they don't manage to do that, missing out on Konopka looks a lot worse.

That said, as many have already pointed out, a 300+ penalty minute kind of guy wouldn't exactly wear the label "Jacques Martin kind of player". But Konopka was a stable penalty killer as well, and the Canadiens need some of those now with the departures of Jeff Halpern and Tom Pyatt.

Players, such as Todd White, John Madden, Chris Clark, Ethan Moreau, Kris Draper, Jarkko Ruutu, Todd Marchant (update: forgot, he retired:), Brendan Morrison, Mike Grier and Cam Janssen are still available.

If the Canadiens wish to obtain one or two of them, inevitably they'll have to make their intentions clear rather soon. The better, or more serviceable players of the lot will start to move as we transition from July to August.
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Josh Gorges filed for arbitration, though that's hardly anything to worry about. He'll be signed, and it'll certainly be before it gets to an arbitrator. His agent has stipulated as much, and the Canadiens have been loud and clear on their intention to keep him as part of their leadership group. That spells long-term deal.

To give you an indication of how much the Canadiens like Gorges, he was asked about what the team's priorities should be for the summer, and replied that Hal Gill should be priority number one. Gill was dealt with in short order, thereafter.

As for the defense as a whole, many believe the Canadiens are after a player to solidify things. I don't view it as a necessity that they grab someone now, but it's commonly held that you can never have enough defensive depth. The decision to offer a contract to Hamrlik would have one infer that the team is interested in such a move.

Still available for hire in the experienced, depth defender role: Brent Sopel and Paul Mara to start with. Scott Hannan is another name, though he could cost too much for what he'll contribute. Niklas Wallin is another name on the too expensive list. Nick Boynton would be interesting, and others, including Ruslan Salei (update: Salei signed to play in the KHLY and Steve Staios could be good value signings.
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