There's no denying that the Montreal Canadiens' defence wasn't good enough last season and that it needs help. Barely 2 weeks after the Habs had played their last game, Marc Bergevin signed Christian Folin to a 1 year $800 000 contract. Fast forward a month later and the general manager decided to ink another one of his d-man to a new deal, giving Brett Kulak a 3 year pact worth 1.85 M per year.
Acquired via trade last October, Kulak came over from the Flames while Matt Taormina and Rinat Valiev (who the Habs had obtained by "lending" Plekanec to the Leafs at the deadline in 2018) were sent the other way. This season, the 25 year old put up 17 points and 31 penalty minutes in 57 games played for the Tricolore and ended the year on the second pairing alongside Jeff Petry. To be fair, should the Canadiens have a proper defence corps, number 17 would be a third pairing guy but in difficult circumstances, he did his best and earned his role as Petry's partner. I'll add a comment that made me chuckle on Facebook yesterday; on RDS' post announcing the signing, a French speaker wrote: "Bon belle Kulak dans a face de Alzner ça!". I admit, it did make me laugh. 10/10 on the pun game there.
With about 4 months to go before the start of the new season, both Jordie Benn (UFA) and Mike Reilly (RFA) remain unsigned. I would honestly be surprised if either of them was back. Numerous sources are claiming that the Canadiens are in the running to sign pending unrestricted free agent Jake Gardiner who is a LD and would address a need on the blue line. While Gardiner is not a superstar, he's still a definite upgrade on Jordie Benn and has recorded 43, 52 and 30 points (he missed 20 games in 2018-2019) in the last 3 seasons. Furthermore, Gardiner was also on the Leafs' second power play and given the Habs' struggles with the man advantage last season, they'll take all the help they can need on that front.
Come training camp, we'll also be able to have a look at 19 year old prospect Josh Brook and 20 year old Cale Fleury. Unfortunately, both are right handed d-men but should they prove to be ready for the big league, they very well may give Folin a run for his money.
Meanwhile, in Halifax, Nick Suzuki's season finally ended as the Guelph Storm ran out of miracles after facing elimination and coming back twice in the OHL playoffs, they had to bow down to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies who beat them 6-4 on Friday. In that loss, the Canadiens' prospect had 2 assists and a 54% face-off win percentage. In 4 games, Suzuki racked up 7 points and is currently the tournament's leading scorer, he might relinquish that lead today though give the fact that both Rouyn-Noranda and Halifax will be playing in the final. I spoke to a friend who attended the Memorial Cup tournament this year (and for the last 2 years as well) and he really believes that Suzuki is the real deal and that his success will translate well to the pro level. I do hope that he is correct...I must admit that Suzuki does have silky smooth hands and looks like a great playmaker who can also bury so goals when he has to. At 5'11" and 183 pounds, there's still room to add muscle to that frame and he would be wise to do so given how robust the NHL is.
As for Joël Teasdale, he's got 4 points in 4 games and while he's also a centre, there's no doubt that he isn't as talented as Suzuki. Also at 5'11", he has a 13 pounds edge on the speedster that is Suzuki. So far, it seems quite clear that he will be starting next season in the AHL with his former coach, Joël Bouchard which might just the best solution to ensure that he develops in an appropriate manner.
While Canada is once again disappointed to see that no Canadian team made it to the Stanley Cup final, the whole country is cheering on the Toronto Raptors who booked their spot in the NBA finals last night to face Steph Curry and the powerful Golden State Warriors...Even Max and Tie Domi have jumped on the bandwagon!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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