With the draft in the books and the groundwork for the future being put into place it's time to move on to July 1st and free agent frenzy. Today marks the day that all 31 teams can begin to communicate with pending unrestricted free agents, and thankfully the NHL allowed this to happen, so now Canada Day is a little more interesting. With communication lines now open, what should the Montreal Canadiens do? In an earlier blog I talked about veterans that Bergevin should target, but he'll also need to upgrade on depth in various spots and in this blog we'll look at defense.

Starting on the blue line, whether Markov decides to end his NHL career with Montreal or not they lost 3 players you could pencil in to their line up in October on the back end (Beaulieu, Sergachev and Emelin), and they did not qualify Nestorov either which means like Markov, he is free to sign elsewhere. Montreal does not have the prospects ready to fill in those spots which means that free agency is the way to go. If Montreal does not want to give Markov the 2 years he's asking for then that is 5 guys potentially out of Montreal's projected line up that would have easily made the team.

Dimitry Kulikov: While he was injured for most of this past season the guy can move the puck and if Markov is gone Montreal will need someone to do that. He's never put up big numbers which means that his annual salary will not be out of the ballpark (or rink). Kulikov can become a bargain if he's given top power play minutes and can feed Weber the puck. Defensively, he has never really played on a good team, so his +/- doesn't look very impressive. Put him in a more defensively responsible system and solid partner and Price behind him he may have a chance to thrive.

Michael Stone: There were two Michael Stones last year, The Arizona one and the Calgary one the team signing him hopes that they are getting the one who wore the flaming C last year. While he isn't a top pairing or power play guy he can play as a 4,5,6 guy and give great minutes we all saw that when he was paired with Douggie Hamilton. Given the fact that the Flames acquired Hamonic on the 2nd day of the draft to be their 4th guy. If Stone doesn't want the reduced minutes a spot in Montreal will be open. He can takeover the spot left by Beaulieu and be more reliable in that spot and the difference in offense will be outweighed by the superior defensive play.

Roman Polak: Probably a guy that won't be given much of a look, but has look very good as a stay at home guy in especially the last two seasons. Back in Toronto last year he was leaned on for experience on a very young and not so deep defense group to really be the teams shut down guy. Being paired with Morgan Rielly, he held the fort allowing the young pivot to rush the play more. Until his injury in round 1, Polak did a good job limiting the Capitals top players in regards to point production. He can fill in at a cheaper rate than Emelin, doesn't deliver questionable hits and can stand up for not only himself but teammates also.

Simon Despres: Not much experience with Despres, but after being bought out he may have a chip on his shoulder and want to prove to everyone that the Ducks made a mistake dumping a player so young for nothing. He'll come in cheap and can be given a chance rotating on the bottom pairing with Davidson and the newly acquired Schlemko where he can try and work his way into more trust and ice time. Could be a low-risk signing where the worst case is that you have a hometown guy playing for the Laval Rocket.

There might be a few other defensemen that the Canadiens should look at, but unless they are going to re-sign Markov they shouldn't sign any one to too much. Getting into a bidding war for a player like Shattenkirk who many during the playoffs were describing as a 3rd pairing PP specialist, don't need that. Alzner? Just lost Emelin, so why sign the Canadian version to a higher cap hit and have to deal with his breaking down at an older age. And those are two in a large field of defensemen who are old and/or a liability that are available that people are going to overpay. Play it smart.

- Paul Thivierge

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