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Whiskey in the Jar, Lightning in a Bottle

June 15, 2011, 11:25 AM ET [ Comments]
Steven Hindle
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Committing Dollars to #20 Makes A Lot of Sense


Pierre Gauthier has been a busy man this June.

He has locked up Andrei Kostitsyn to a one-year deal at the same rate he earned the last three years, $3.25 million.

He did the same with Hal Gill, securing his services for another year at $2.25 million.

The Goat also locked up uber-utility man, Mathieu Darche, handing him a nifty raise of $200k on his new one-year deal worth $700,000.

The Canadiens GM and his group also locked up newcomers Alexei Yemelin and Rafael Diaz, bolstering the blue line depth, replacing outgoing veterans with promising youngsters.

There's also the matter of the return of Brock Trotter. Although not announced yet, his return(be it on the Habs books or the Bulldogs books) is yet another boon for Montreal's depth.

So, all in all, the Canadiens GM has been taking care of all of the smaller items on his bill before he turns his attention to the big fish still swimming in his pond.

Of those "big fish" still left waiting to be bated by an offer, Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges appear to be locks on defense while it's near impossible to imagine the Habs not renewing the services of Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Ryan White.

Also necessary, in this writer's opinion, is the return of Yannick Weber. Affordable and highly talented, it would be devastating to watch another 'Mark Streit' in the making not remain a Hab.

Given that those players are all but assured to return to Montreal next season, it then leaves Gauthier with another hand-full of players to figure out what to do with.

Lars and Wisky


At the top of that list is 27 year old unrestricted free agent, James Wisniewski.

Wisniewski, acquired in a trade with the New York Islanders, earned a salary of $3.25 million last season, of which the Canadiens wound up paying him $1,817,204.00.

A sweet deal if I've ever heard of one as Wisniewski racked up 30 points in 43 games with the Canadiens(2 points in 6 playoff games), it's hard to imagine what the logic would be in letting him walk for nothing?

The truth is that, while many people like Lyle Richardson and Ansar Khan are speculating on how great a fit Wisniewski would be in Detroit, or elsewhere for that matter, the reality is that they are counting on Wisniewski taking a relatively decent cap hit on a long term deal.

Something along the lines of 4 years at $4.5 million a season.

If that is truly the case, and the neighborhood in which Wisniewski will see offers come this July, what sense does it then make for the Canadiens to not dish out a similar value to retain his services?

Yes, the Habs have PK Subban and Yannick Weber as part of the future, and they also have Andrei Markov, ultimately loading up the blue line with all the puck moving defensemen they could need.

Yet hasn't anyone ever realized that the Montreal Canadiens offense, when it thrives, is driven by its blue line?

Paying attention to when the Habs played their strongest offensive hockey, they always had an incredible array of offensive weapons on the blue line.

Couple that with the fact that the free agent market for top end offensive players is bone-dry, and Montreal shouldn't be shy about considering having four elite puck-movers on their back end.

Yes, it will cost them cap space and completely load up an already(so it seems) very full blue line, but is it really worth risking losing James Wisniewski?

If Detroit considers him to be the ideal, and affordable, replacement for Brian Rafalski, then what are the Habs thinking?

Montreal still needs to sign four forwards, three blue liners and a backup goaltender with the (current) $18.129 million in cap space. But that room should increase to around $21 million once the salary cap goes up from the $59.4M in 2010-11 to approximately $62.2/3M in 2011-12.

While retaining both Andrei Markov and James Wisniewski will ultimately require sacrifice on both of the players contract demands, the truth is that both defensemen should realize how much stronger the Canadiens would be with both of them than just one.

Hoping that to be the case, there is always the chance they work things out with both players and fit them in under the cap.

In all reality, were I the GM of the Canadiens, this would actually be one of those situations where I would pull a "Paul Holmgren" and go over the cap by whatever amount necessary to keep both Markov and Wisniewski, while retaining the rest of the UFA's and RFA's I wanted.

There's more than enough time in the summer to figure out how to get back under the salary cap, and although the Habs are traditionally a team that tries to leave approximately $2 million in cap space, without a salary bonus cushion and the end of the current CBA coming following the conclusion of next season, what better time to go all out?

The Habs are going to have to be a little bit lucky to retain their top two UFA puck-movers, and it could compromise pursuing a relatively decent offensive UFA, but given how Jacques Martin's systems work, and how this team is designed, I can't find any reason why including another talented passer can't help this Canadiens club, a team that is based on speed and quality first-pass breakouts.

Again, if the speculation is for Wisniewski to go in the range of a four to five year deal between $4.5 and $5.0 million a year, and with a four year contract like Roman Hamrlik's $5.5 million coming off the books, there has to be a way to make it work in Montreal.

PK Subban and Carey Price's new deals most certainly put a cog in the gears of the Canadiens future salary cap plans, but with $36 million available(as of now) for 2012-13, not including this year and possibly next year's cap increase, locking up those two long-term should be no problem.


My advice, tradition be damned! Bring back Markov, Gorges, Wisniewski and Weber and take the summer to sort it out. Any leftover cap space should be thrown at a viable top 6 candidate(once the forwards are locked up, and if there's anything left). And if there's no room left for bringing on a quality top six, bring back Pouliot and use Weber occasionally as a winger.

The bottom line is to make it work. Sure you can trade his rights, but while imagining Markov on another team is among the most frightening thing a Habs fan can do, shouldn't the same be true for James Wisniewski.

Pierre Gauthier is in the drivers seat with this one, and given market expectations and outlook, I'd say it's time for Montreal's GM to throw caution to the wind and go the smart route by locking up a player he knows, without question, will definitely help his team in 2011-12.






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