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Lecavalier, Briere, Jagr and the Habs...

June 27, 2013, 10:44 AM ET [3653 Comments]
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Fire up the DeLorian...

Three names on the market: Vincent Lecavalier, Daniel Briere, Jaromir Jagr.

Let's talk about them...

We all knew that for Steve Yzerman to build a competitive roster, buying out Lecavalier was a must. That said, it was a near-impossible reality to fathom.

Would Jeff Vinik and Yzerman be willing to rid themselves of the face of their franchise?

Would Vinik be willing to spend that much money for Lecavalier to go make a rival better?

We now have our answer.

Make no mistake about it, Lecavalier now becomes one of, if not the top dog on the market. There are several teams that will be vying for his services, and he holds the cards entirely.

Will he elect to take less money on a short-term contract with the hope of returning to Tampa and finishing his career there?

Which teams will be interested?

Philadelphia. They come to mind easily. They're always in on big-name players, and signing Lecavalier puts them right back towards competing in the East.

Vancouver. If they can trade Luongo, or if they elect to buy him out, would Vinny want to go play for Tortorella and a chance to win the Stanley Cup with a very good Canadian team?

Detroit has some money coming off the books, and they have a roster that's good enough to compete without Lecavalier. I'm sure they'd kill to get their hands on him.

You have to believe the Toronto Maple Leafs would throw the most money at Lecavalier to sign with them.

And then there's Montreal. No matter what, Marc Bergervin will be under the gun to put his team into this race. Bergevin has to take the stance that the Canadiens are interested and in it, but he has a good excuse to fall back on when Lecavalier signs a deal that's out of Montreal's range. That said, if that deal goes down with Toronto...

Daniel Briere...

He chose the Flyers over the Canadiens last time around, and the fans in Montreal haven't let him forget it since.

Unlike Lecavalier, Briere is likely looking at a short-term deal (max two years). He's a compelling choice for a team like the Canadiens, especially now that Lecavalier's on the market. If the Habs lose out on Lecavalier (intentionally or not) they could offer up Briere to their fans as consolation.

Would the fans accept Daniel Briere? I'll say they would with open arms, if the deal is right.

You can lament his regular season struggles all you want, and you can talk about his injury history too, but as I've mentioned before, we're talking about one of the best playoff performers in the game. There are plenty of teams out there that would take a chance on him purely for that reason.

A tricky decision for Briere, no doubt. He'd be a hero for signing a cheap deal with the Canadiens, but he'd be on a short leash with the fans. If he couldn't perform in the regular season, if he ran into more injury issues along the way, there'd be no guarantees of a playoff run for him to prove his worth.

Jaromir Jagr...

"He's done."

"Too old, too slow."

This is what certain fans of the game are saying about a guy who scored 35 points in 45 games this year, and added another 10 assists in 22 playoff games.

"But he didn't score a goal in the playoffs."

No, he didn't. But you have to consider what you get with Jagr at roughly four million dollars for one season. You get a player that brings fans out of their seats. You get a player that offers so much more than offensive production. You get one of the best puck-possession players in the league, regardless of age or speed. You get one of the best mentors in the league. You get an asset that you could easily flip at the deadline if you're not in a playoff position.

We don't have to wonder as to whether or not Jagr would consider Montreal. It's his preferred destination. He wants to play with Tomas Plekanec, but we all know that he's not taking a pay cut to do so. And we also know that Bergevin, and Gauthier before him, passed on Jagr last year.

These are three veterans that Montreal will surely be tied to over the next week. Any one of them on a short term contract is a very compelling option for the Canadiens, and yet, there's a strong chance that none of them will land here.

It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out.

Who'd have thought the free agent market would be dominated this summer by these three aging veterans, nevermind Jarome Iginla and Roberto Luongo?
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