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Habs Steal Vanek, Beat Ducks on Quest to Make a run in the East |
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1) With less than an hour left to the deadline, Ryan Kesler, Thomas Vanek and Matt Moulson were still available pieces.
Kesler was a hockey trade that would've involved several key pieces to make his acquisition; the kind of deal more likely consumed on draft day. The Vancouver Canucks weren't just going to trade him to acquiesce to his demand; they had to make a deal that allowed them to spin it as a win. Given Kesler's demand to be traded, teams obviously smelled blood and refused to offer up the return Mike Gillis was looking for. But whichever teams were in on him had to have felt they had a chance to acquire him right up until the end.
Matt Moulson was target number two on this list, if only because his case represented the possibility that whichever team acquired him would be able to sign him. In the end, Minnesota snatched him up, though they likely have their eyes set on the next guy down the list when it comes to unrestricted free agents this summer. Moulson's acquistion--most likely a pure rental--was made for two second round picks and centre Torrey Mitchell. Rugged centre Cody McCormick also made his way to Minnesota in the deal.
And then there was Vanek. Some of the teams with interest in him were chasing Kesler or Moulson. Some of them couldn't afford to take him on as a pure rental without unloading a body from their roster, in order to be cap compliant. And Garth Snow wasn't interested in taking back salary. What he wanted was a forward prospect with offensive upside and NHL potential. And he settled for a second round pick instead of a first, because no one was floating him a first for a guy that was surely going to walk to another team.
Marc Bergevin's rigid cap saving throughout the season enabled this. Bergevin and his team stated their interest in Vanek very early in the day and insisted that Garth Snow circle back to them. He did, and they probably rejoiced.
The only thing that would've made this more of a steal would've been Rick Dudley and Larry Carriere driving down, and tossing Vanek into the trunk of their car to smuggle him across the border.
2) This huge win of a trade is not just about Vanek's size, his goalscoring ability, his five-on-five contribution, his powerplay contribution, this is really about the ripple effect throughout the lineup.
Vanek has just given Therrien a whole host of options up front. The team was built to have three contributing lines, and hard to imagine them having less than two moving forward.
The competition for jobs just got so much fiercer. And that's going to stimulate more punch up front, outside of what Vanek will offer with that sweet right-handed shot.
You can come up with several line combinations that balance out Montreal's top nine, and the mix available to Therrien on the fourth gives the Canadiens the deepest roster they've had in a very long time.
3) There was plenty of reason to believe Bergevin was set to unload a player or two from his forward arsenal, but when all was said and done, he was more inclined to hang onto guys that could serve as important players for them if and when the injury bug hits.
Immediate impact-- the forward crop is so deep at the NHL level that Miichael Bournival might soon be wondering if he has a place in the lineup.
Lars Eller--a healthy scratch last night in Anaheim--was given the time to think about how he's going to keep his job in the lineup. He'll have to resume his season with great aplomb; something that can only benefit the Canadiens. If he can't do it, Briere or Galchenyuk could very well take his place until he proves he can win it back.
This is an excellent problem to have.
To think the Canadiens beat the best team in the league last night --a team that's lost eight games on home ice to date--without Brandon Prust, Bournival, Eller, Carey Price or Peter Budaj...
4) Gionta stayed. Markov stayed. Moen stayed. And the Habs added a depth defenseman in Mike Weaver, a backup's backup in Devan Dubnyk (25% of his salary on their books, though technically, he was sent to Hamilton, where he's likely to stay) and Vanek.
Any doubt about how Bergevin sees his team?
He doesn't care about the naysayers, he believes his team has as good of a chance as any of the playoff teams in the East, and he gave them that much better of a chance with his work through the trade deadline.
Making Vanek's acquisition a reality, with such a negligible price to pay, without removing a body from his roster, Bergevin may very well have won the day among his peers.
5) I gather some people are still confused about Dubnyk coming here. Well, logically, Price is a week or two away. The Canadiens don't seem all that concerned about it, and why should they with what Budaj and now Tokarski have offered in relief.
But the race is still tight enough for Bergevin to go for the insurance. Not because Price will be out longer, but in the event that Budaj suffers an injury while Price is sidelined, they weren't just going to let it ride on Tokarski alone. And the price for Dubnyk ended up being less than if they had claimed him on waivers--taking on 50% of his salary.
As for Weaver, well, he's likely to take some games and some minutes from Doug Murray. And it's a possibility that if he plays well, he'll take some time away from Jarred Tinordi. And I'd imagine some fans don't want to hear that, but the Canadiens are gearing up for a playoff run, and they're trying to build a reliable shutdown pair, and experience tends to win the day when it comes to the playoffs.
A glimmer of hope for Tinordi fans: If he plays exceptionally well next to Weaver...
We'll see what the plan is for Beaulieu too...
6) My twin brother suggested to me last night that now's the time to put Galchenyuk at centre. Give him Eller's job and let them battle it out. And he likes the idea of playing Briere on his left and Vanek on his right.
Definitely outside the box suggestion there, but an enticing one.
I think there's two ways this is going to go:
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Vanek
Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher
Briere/Moen-Plekaenc-Gionta
Prust/White/Weise/Bournival/Parros/Moen/Briere/Bourque
That depth chart...
or:
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Gallagher
Vanek-Plekanec-Galchenyuk
Prust-Eller-Gionta
Moen-Briere-Weise/White/Bournival/Parros/Bourque
7) The way Pacioretty, Desharnais and Gallagher are playing, it would be almost unjustifiable to split them.
Desharnais has gone from down in the dumps/never going to be good again, to flat out dominant in his last 42 games. He's got 36 points through that stretch, but it's not just the points. It's the one-on-one battles, it's the setups, it's the creativity, it's the defensive play, it's the shootout miracles. This guy is such a huge part of where the Canadiens sit in the standings, it's remarkable.
Pacioretty nails down his 30th goal of the season. Tremendous.
And Gallagher, who always plays that in-your-face, want to punch his lights out if you're playing against him hockey, has been on another level since the Olympic break. He's playing absolutely brilliant hockey right now.
8) What a game for Brian Gionta last night. Scored the first goal of the game, was on the puck all night, and he must be extremely relieved for a chance to do something with this team in the playoffs.
Ditto Andrei Markov--Mr. Shootout winner. Wow. He was spectacular last night, especially in his own end. It took one game to show exactly why the Canadiens weren't going to trade him; why they'd rather risk his loss later on versus risking taking him away from a team that needed a boost, rather than a depletion.
Vanek somehow had influence on last night's result without even playing. That team was so pumped, and it showed.
9) Dustin Tokarski was obviously out of his element in the shootout, but he was the furthest thing from fitting that description throughout the game. He played incredibly well in what had to have been the most nerve-wracking start of his career.
That horrible bounce in the second period, care of Francois Beauchemin's intended rim-around was quickly overcome. And if not for Tokarski, it could've been much more than three goals scored against in the second.
He followed that up with some great play in the third--got a bit of luck along the way too, like when Getzlaf rang one off the post--and was so solid in overtime.
10) I'd say it was a struggle for three players last night: Galchenyuk, Emelin and Tinordi. But the Canadiens brought it to sweep Anaheim in their season series.
On to Phoenix.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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