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Smillie: Which Canadien is Heading to Sin City? |
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By Brandon Smillie
Which Canadien is Heading to Sin City?
As we approach the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft it's time to speculate which Canadien will be no more. Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens have protected Jonathan Drouin, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Andrew Shaw, Philip Danault, and Paul Byron at Forward. Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, and Jordie Benn on Defence. And the easiest decision was protecting Carey Price in Goal.
Left unprotected is a group consisting of these notable names: Plekanec, Radulov (UFA), Hudon, Mitchell, de la Rose (RFA), Carr, Terry, and Matteau (RFA) at Forward. Markov (UFA, he ain't goin' anywhere) Emelin, Davidson, and Redmond on Defence. Last to mention is Al Montoya being the unprotected Goalie, and likely to remain with the Canadiens anyways.
What appears likely is that the Knights will be fairly well off on Defence. With the likes of Sami Vatanen, Matt Dumba, Jack Johnson, Brooks Orpik, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Calvin De Haan, Michael Stone, Xavier Ouellet, Klas Dahlbeck, and Slater Koekkoek available it would be difficult to see Vegas plucking a defender off the Canadiens so.... maybe Beaulieu could have stayed? I digress.
In goal the potential is even better for Vegas. The obvious choice would be Fleury but perhaps the Golden Knights would be better served going a bit cheaper and younger? My personal list of top 5 goalie options for Vegas would be MA Fleury, Philipp Grubauer (easy pick), Mike Condon, Anti Raanta, and Joonas Korpisalo.
If Vegas wanted to build for a steady future I could see them taking Grubauer, Condon, and Korpisalo. This would give them quality goaltending at bargain bin prices. However, it's likely Fleury heads there to remain competitive and provide leadership to which ever two young goaltenders the pluck away from their respective teams.
All that said I think the only option for the Knights to select from is the Canadiens forward group. It's easy to say they will sign away Radulov but I think (hope?) that's not happening. I'm thinking Radulov is buying what Bergevin is selling and will remain with the Habs for the next 2-4 seasons (again, hopefully).
This leaves me thinking the only viable options for Vegas would be Plekanec, Hudon, Mitchell, de la Rose, and Terry. If I'm being completely honest, the only choices are Plekanec, Hudon, and Mitchell.
Plekanec has one more season left at 6 million cap hit. This would be large to Vegas but the turtleneck could be very valuable to a Vegas team looking to build a hard working and responsible team. Pleks gives them that in spades and could be their 2nd or 3rd line C and top Penalty Killing Center. Those players aren't easy to come by and I think he will be taken from the Habs this week. Hudson could be an attractive option due to his AHL production, new 2 year contract with 2 way flexibility in the first year, and his age. If Vegas picks a different route for its 2nd and 3rd line C's then Hudon is likely gone. My last pick in Mitchell may make some scratch their heads but Mitchell can play 3rd or 4th line C on the cheap, win draws, and kill penalties for a fraction of what Plekanec costs. If Vegas goes expensive up front then Mitchell would be an ideal bottom line C and penalty killer. Very valuable to any team.
All in all, I don't think Vegas will be the worst team in the league next year (Colorado has that in the bag for next year, again) and with a little luck they could flirt with the wildcard race, but it won't be because of the Canadiens contribution. Well, unless they offer Radulov 7 million a year for 5 years.
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