Canadiens UFA Centre Options Dwindling, Giroux Rumour

With less than two weeks before NHL free agency opens, the options to fill the centre gap for the Montreal Canadiens are quickly dwindling.

Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene signed a four-year contract that carries a $4.5 million annual average value (AAV), a very reasonable price point for a point-per-game centre.  The Chicago Blackhawks also re-signed an important centre, with Ryan Donato agreeing to a four-year contract with a $4 million AAV.

Even though Duchene is 34 years old, and Donato established a new career-high in shooting efficiency (17 percent), you could argue they’re both great-value deals when we consider the NHL’s salary cap is set to rise significantly in the next few years.

Montreal Canadiens Angle

It’s worth noting the Dallas Stars are in a salary-cap crunch now that they’ve re-signed Duchene. It’s not a situation that will require drastic decisions in the upcoming days, but Jason Robertson and Mason Marchment have contracts that are set to expire next summer, which could lead to some player movement down the road.

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On that note, they may not have enough cap space to re-sign captain Jamie Benn, or veteran Mikael Granlund, two players who still maintain a reasonable production rate while being on the wrong side of 30.

Benn’s underlying numbers took a dip into the inevitable decline pool this season, and his production dried up in the playoffs, two clear red flags. He played most of the season on the left wing, which isn’t a pressing need for the Canadiens, but the good news is that he still took enough faceoffs to also be considered a centre, with a 58 percent efficiency when called upon.

Given that we’re discussing upcoming free agents, let’s not sugar coat things.

Benn is 35 years old, and it’s quite clear that his best years are behind him. I’m sure that’s the first thing that comes to mind when Habs fans see his name.

And that’s perfectly fair.

But when discussing the possibility of signing an older player to serve as a centre for the Canadiens, we’re doing so with the understanding that it will not be a long-term deal. Kent Hughes has stuck to his guns in that regard, as evidenced by his position during contract negotiations with former free agent Jonathan Marchessault.

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In other words, don’t worry when a free agent on the wrong side of 30 is mentioned as a possible target for the Habs, as there’s little to no risk they’d be on the books for much more than a year or two.

As we saw in the NHL playoffs, good veterans are still worth their salt.

Latest Montreal Canadiens Rumour

According to Bruce Garrioch, the Montreal Canadiens could end-up being Claude Giroux’s contingency plan should a deal with the Ottawa Senators fail to materialize.

“Giroux’s top priority is to re-sign with the Senators,” explained Garrioch. “With only 12 days to free agency, he could decide to test the market. His family has a good situation in Ottawa, but league executives say he might be willing to consider the Montreal Canadiens if they show interest on July 1.”

The first thing we have to get out of the way is that Giroux is not a local player, despite the fact that he happens to have a French-Canadian name. Hearst is about 10 hours north of Ottawa, or 12 repeats of the quintessential 1991 album by the Tragically Hip, Road Apples. Another way of looking at it is that it will take you about two and a half hours to reach Hearst from Geraldton, a.k.a. “G-Town”, and about five hours if you’re leaving from the megapolis known as New Liskeard.

Either way, he’s from Ontario, which means he is among the 1.5 million Ontarians who speak French.

He’s also currently engaged in contract negotiations with the Senators, which makes Garrioch’s report feel like the classic situation where a free agent uses the Habs for leverage without showing serious consideration of signing with the team.

Additionally, if we take a look at Ottawa’s salary cap situation, they’re not exactly in a financial crunch.

With that in mind, we did discuss the possibility that Giroux could join the Canadiens earlier this year, and though I don’t put much stock in the most recent report, he wouldn’t be an awful option should the Habs strike out on the dwindling number of centres set to be available once free agency opens on July 1.

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