Former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara is pictured above hoisting Lord Stanley. Photograph taken June 15th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.
MINNEAPOLIS - Enemies Acquired Within........confusing title. Absolutely. However, if you've paid attention to the Montreal Canadiens as of late, it potentially sheds more light on the situation.
Rewind a few months ago on the annual trading deadline, the Canadiens dealt away their promising young defensmenen Stephen Johns, as well as their first-round draft pick in this year's draft. In return, highly touted winger Ales Hemsky climbed on board, as well they received a second-round draft pick for this year's draft. For whatever reason, the Canadiens couldn't put it together on-ice and they ended up falling flat on their face and missed the playoffs by five points. The offense struggled tremendously down the stretch.
Nobody pointed any fingers, they all preached it was a team game, and they all under-achieved as a team. There was no individual's in the locker room, from the ownership down. Owners stressed the core would remain intact with some upgrades definitely needed. There was a glaring hole on the team for a 2nd line C, or top line center and have Sam Gagner move down into the 2nd line role. It was no secret veteran center Pavol Demitra wasn't returning to the team after a fantastic season a year ago. Also a couple of holes on the blueline that could be fixed with a UFA signing or trade.
Fast forward to the new "trade deadline" of draft day, and the Canadiens have already been fairy busy. There is now overall excitement around the city, as fans are itching for the new season to begin. Long time rival Zdeno Chara was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for their first round draft pick next season, second round pick in 2013, and forward Evgeny Artyukhin. Fans lit up the message boards either with overzealous joy that Chara would be anchoring their blueline, or genuine hate that Chara is now dressed in their beloved Red & White. Most people came to an agreement that they weren't happy that their first round pick next season is gone, considering they didn't own a first-round pick this season. Well, that issue was quickly addressed.
Long time back-up goaltender Jaroslav Halak was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. Management had no problems with Halak on the team, however it was more doing him a favor than anything else. They've had multiple closed door meetings with Halak, updating him on the progress of negotiations, and possible teams. When the Chicago Blackhawks were mentioned, his eyes lit up with excitement. It was a perfect fit for him, and a trade with enough assets for the Canadiens to pull the trigger. They received young netminder Antti Niemi in return, as well as the 18th overall selection in this year's entry draft. They included the 47th overall selection heading back to Chicago as well. The trade addressed the Canadiens need to re-stock their prospect shelves with a top 20 pick, as well cut them a couple hundred thousand bucks off their cap.
The final straw in the short and busy off-season was acquiring center Marc Savard from the Atlanta Thrashers. The Canadiens are re-uniting Savard with longtime former teammate Chara while bringing them both into hostile territory. Both Savard and Chara have had huge rivalries in the past with members of the Habs. Forwards Andrei Kostitsyn, Max Lapierre, Kyle Chipchura, and most notably Max Pacioretty have all had their run-ins with Chara and/or Savard. The response in Montreal was overwhelming with the news that front office unloaded the long-term contract of Bobby Ryan in the deal to the Thrashers. Included in the trade was pick #41, as well as a conditional second round draft pick next year. The Thrashers also sent pick #54 to Montreal. Montreal quickly flipped that pick to the Nashville Predators to acquire veteran ice hockey forward John Madden, not long time football commentator John Madden. Madden looks to play a huge role in developing the game of young centers Kyle Chipchura, and Sam Gagner.
With a flurry of moves already done, the Canadiens are expected to remain very silent in the hours leading up to their selection at 18. Ironically they selected 18th last season as well, drafting russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara are definitely short-term fixes for two glaring holes in the Canadiens line-up, and it will be interesting to see which direction they look at while drafting. Sources say they are still looking for a strong PLY center for the future, or perhaps stocking up on the blueline again. Patrik Nemeth suited up in more games than I think both he and front office anticipated last year with the long-term injury to James Wisniewski. Front office had the tough decision of keeping Johns or Nemeth in the negotiations with Edmonton, and most likely made the right choice. Nemeth made leaps and bounds in his progress last year including a semi-final run with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. Nemeth is projected to one day be the clubs best overall defensemen in the coming years.
Behind Nemeth, there isn't any top-end talent in the prospect system. Matt Smaby is still relatively young, but fellow defensemen Paul Martin, Kim Johnsson, and Zdeno Chara are all into their 30's. Wisniewski is also into his late 20's. Up front they are still fairly young with Andrei Kostitsyn, Sam Gagner, Devin Setoguchi, Max Lapierre, Kyle Chipchura, and Max Pacioretty all expected to be around for quite sometime.
I think everyone could agree that the best strategy for the Canadiens at #18 will be to draft the overall best player available, or they could look at possible options of moving down. Depending on how the domino's fall in the early selections, centers Ryan Strome and Jonathan Huberdeau could be two guys to heavily target. Goaltender John Gibson could also potentially be an option, as well as defensmen Ryan Murphy, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Brodin, or Joe Morrow.
We will all find out in the coming days which way the Montreal Canadiens front office elects to go.