How do you spell excitement? C-H-A-R-I-O-T

Brace yourselves: I'm not happy.  I don't like it.

Another Jet takes off: Ben Chiarot signs 3-year deal with Montreal Canadiens

1)  It's days like these I start to rue Karl Alzner.  Mostly, I deal with it, every team has a shitty player on an unmovable contract.  The Canucks have Loui Eriksson.  The Oilers have Lucic, the Flames have James Neal.  The Rangers have Shattenkirk, Staal, although those guys are on the team playing, our boy is in Laval.  

It's hard to squawk about Korl when the Canucks are stuck with Loui and a Luongo cap recapture of $3M for three years, and I'm subjected to the uproar concerning that every day.  But now that we went back to the well and took another veteran UFA defensive type who hits and plays well in his zone, because we whiffed on Korl, it's harder to ignore him.

2)  The scouting report on Ben Chiarot:

SCOUTING REPORT

Has the requisite size all National Hockey League teams need along the blueline, and he displays the ability to use it as well. Was a good point producer in the junior ranks. Still a little raw in the defensive zone, he needs to tighten up and limit his mistakes with the puck in order to maximize his big-league potential as a defensive type.
Long Range Potential:	Big, stay-at-home defenseman.

I was seeing Jordie Benn's departure as a positive, that we'd maybe be forced to live and die with Mete, Kulak and Reilly, fleet puck-movers, we'd see d-men pinching and rushing the puck.

Nope.

3)  Putting a positive spin on things, maybe Ben Chiarot can/will be an asset?  Maybe he plays decently next year, like Jordie Benn season this year +, and we can trade him in Year 2 or Year 3 of this deal?  Once Alex Romanov comes over and takes over in the Top 4?

4)  I'd mostly given up on Jake Gardiner, but was hopeful we could work something out with Calgary and T.J. Brodie.  They're desperate to sell, need to shed salary to re-up Matthew Tkachuk, I was thinking we take on James Neal too and he finds his game again.  So from dreaming of T.J. Brodie with Shea Weber, to contemplating Ben Chiarot on our Top 4, that's quite the letdown.

5)  We maybe can still offer-sheet Charlie McAvoy?  Or Xavier Ouellet takes a giant leap over the summer?  Jayden Struble is a huge surprise at training camp?  No?

Hmmmmfff...