In case you haven’t heard by now, the Montreal Canadiens will be selecting at the 9th overall position in the first round of the upcoming NHL draft. While it’s hard to imagine that a prospect chosen at that rank will necessarily join the team as early as this fall, there is an option that general manager Marc Bergevin should take into consideration in order to potentially move up and select an impact player who can potentially help the team as soon as the puck drops in 2016-2017.
Recently, Edmonton Oilers’ GM Peter Chiarelli has made it (almost) certain that the organization
will look to trade their 4th overall pick in order to move down. The cost will be a top-4 defenseman ready to play in the NHL. As of right now, the Oilers’ blue line is primarily manned by Eric Gryba (R), Andrew Ference (L), Andrej Sekera (L), Adam Pardy (L), Nikitia Nikitin (L) and Oscar Klefbom (L). The loss of Jeff Petry to Montreal has evidently left a hole on the right-hand side, as most of the defensemen on Edmonton’s roster are clearly left-handed.
Let’s assume that Petry won’t be headed back to The Oil Capital of Canada. There are definitely a few assets that the Habs could dangle as trade bait, with P.K. Subban’s name at the top of the list despite Marc Bergevin stating that
he hasn’t proactively spoken with any teams regarding Subban since April 11th. Nathan Beaulieu and Andrei Markov should be considered as well, and I’d like to add Marc Barberio’s name to that list since I believe he could be a #4 defenseman on most teams. I believe he’s shown enough in 2015-2016 to merit a permanent spot on the Habs’ roster, although I’m hard-pressed into thinking that there might not be any room for him with a healthy blue line as long as Alexei Emelin is still on the roster.
The issue with Emelin is an interesting one. He had a very decent and consistent year and his strength could be useful should the team make the playoffs next season, but he’s signed at a $4.1 million salary cap hit until 2017-2018. That’s hardly a friendly hit considering his lack of offensive production, although he has a limited NTC which kicks in next season and he would have to provide the organization with a list of 10 teams he would not waive his clause for. With that in mind, perhaps something could be done as early as this summer in his case, although other teams will probably ask that the Canadiens retain $1 million of his salary.
Also, I’d like to add that Greg Pateryn will fill in nicely as the sixth defenseman and won’t be sufficient in attracting the 4th overall pick singlehandedly.
Finally, I must admit that I’m a fan of Peter Chiarelli publicly stating his demands for the 4th pick. The advantage is that other teams will see the top-four D as the bare minimum they’d have to offer, and thus I expect a bidding war of sorts to begin shortly. It’s important to note that his transparency is a good strategic move and it’s clear that he’s willing to blatantly admit what his team is lacking.
Below, you’ll find two polls that I invite you to participate in. The second is a follow-up to the first, depending on your answers.
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