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Habs Happenings: P.A. Parenteau bought out! |
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The Montreal Canadiens have officially bought out the contract of forward P.A. Parenteau after he cleared waivers today at noon. Parenteau was set to make $4 million in the 2015-2016 season, the final year of his contract. Now the contract will have a $1.33 million hit on the Canadiens salary cap for this coming season and again in 2016-2017. Now Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin has an extra $2.67 million of cap space for this year’s NHL salary cap of $71.4 million usd. A great teammate by all accounts, Parenteau had a difficult season in Montreal. In the first half of the season Parenteau was given ample opportunity with David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty, as well as on the power play. His greatest contributions would only come in the shootout. The concussion that he suffered midway through the season really set him back even farther on the Canadiens depth chart. The speed and style of play of the Habs were just not a good fit for Parenteau to have success in Montreal.
Anyone expecting Bergevin to now make a splash on an unrestricted free agent July 1st will most likely be disappointed. Bergevin still has restricted free agents Alex Galchenyuk, Jarred Tinordi, Brian Flynn, Michael Bournival and Christian Thomas to sign. While Bergevin always reserves the right to change his mind, he did publicly say:
In the past couple of seasons, we have seen that Bergevin typically makes his biggest roster moves at the trade deadline, acquiring a missing piece for a deeper playoff run at a relatively inexpensive price. With the Canadiens holding two 2nd round draft choices in the 2016 NHL Draft, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bergevin take the wait and see approach. It is then in the Springtime that the $2.67 million saved from Parenteau’s contract will most likely come in handy.
Bergevin also alluded at the draft and again after Parenteau’s buyout that he is making room for a prospect to be ready to make the jump to the NHL. Charles Hudon, Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto are the one’s who should all come to training camp with extra motivation to prove they belong. Rookies Nikita Scherbak and Michael McCarron will also be chomping at the bit but I expect that they will need some AHL time to get adjusted to the professional game.
If Bergevin does make another roster move in the coming weeks, I imagine it to be more along the lines of a trade as he will need to further dump salary in order to acquire an impact player. I like Patrick Sharp but it really depends on the asking price as he is on the wrong side of 30 and coming off a subpar season. My preference would be to go after T.J. Oshie of the Saint Louis Blues. He has a cap friendly salary of $4.175 million AAV and is signed for two more years. He would instantly make the Canadiens a better team and help them offensively. St. Louis is short on defencemen as Barret Jackman, Zybnek Michalek, Chris Butler are all UFA’s and Robert Bortuzzo is an RFA. Perhaps Alexei Emelin, Tom Gilbert or Jarred Tinordi would be of interest to them?
Of course only Marc Bergevin and his inner circle know what his true plan is. Fans will get a better idea July 1st if he has something else up his sleeve…
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Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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