Saturday 4 January 2020

Marc Bergevin wheels and deals Reilly, Scandella and Kovalchuk

The Canadiens did very well here.


So the Canadiens, who'd acquired Mike Reilly at a cost of a fifth-rounder, one they'd obtained from unloading Jakob Jerubek, now flip him to Ottawa for a fifth-rounder even-steven.  Good attempt, good gamble on the promising athletic kid, he had some flashes where he made us hope, and we wrunged all the juice from that lemon.  Now we trade him for what exactly what we paid.  Good job.

And then, we get not quite the leftie we need in Marco Scandella, but dirt-cheap also, for a fourth-rounder, one of many we have.

UFA in July, with a current $4M cap hit.  29 years old local boy.  No offence to speak of, but maybe he plays with Jeff Petry and Victor Mete drops down to the third pair?  And does Brett Kulak's three-year contract end up on the pressbox?  Is that "depth"?

And the shocker is that, as these deals cascade on our head, Ilya Kovalchuk signs a contract with our team, for a minimum salary two-way contract.
So Marc Bergevin hasn't given up on the season like we have, evidently. Those who want us to counter-intuitively lose to win will be disappointed, with the addition of two veteran patches on this leaky ship.  We're not on the "Rien faire pour Lafrenière" train.  MB is always wheeling and dealing, but he doesn't pay a lot for those mufflers.

And we were complaining of muffins and lack of finish recently, well, short of DeBrincat, Kovy is a good attempt to address that.  If he/it doesn't work out, no problem, he's gone this spring.

I'll be the only one to say it, while Twitter and HFBoards and the remnants of HIO melt down, but good job, MB.

And I don't understand why anyone frets about this.  He's on a minimum salary, two-way contract, they can eject him any time they choose.  There is no obligation or repercussion.  None.

It's not like he's blocking the kids.  Charles Hudon had his opportunity, proved what he is.  I don't necessarily want to get rid of Charles, if we can keep signing him to play in Laval, good.  But he and all the other callups haven't shown they're ready, that they can do the job.  Ryan Poehling would benefit from more AHL seasoning.  So Ilya isn't harming our prospects, he's actually protecting them, in a way, by drawing away the spotlight and the Twitter fury.  Good for Vejdemo and Barber for getting a couple games in, but they're out of their depth, not NHL-worthy/ready yet.

We've been talking about the lack of finish, about our powerplay with Nick Cousins and Jordan Weal on the first wave due to a lack of options.  This gives the coaches another option, and a guy who can actually pot a goal here and there at 5-on-5 instead of padding our lead on the shot counter and giving us another moral victory.  Maybe he can help in OT and SO.

He's a right-shot pure sniper, something we have a need for, it's not like we have Ovie and Laine onboard already.  Gally isn't a sniper.  Joel Armia was showing signs, Nick Suzuki is more of a dangler/playmaker.  So he fills a need.  Again, at absolutely no cost or tradeoff to us.  Alex Belzile's and Kovy's career don't intersect in any way.  

This isn't one of those 'right now' deals that will hurt us in the future, like bringing in Loui Eriksson to play on a line with the Sedins' last couple of seasons, and we'll worry about the other three-four years down the road.  There's no down-the-road here.

When the Canadiens are (if ever) healthy again, let's say this is the lineup:

Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Drouin-Domi-Armia
Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki
Byron-Thompson-Kovalchuk

Chiairioit-Weber
Scandella-Petry
Mete-Fleury

This is better.  This is more depth, for free.  There are more options for coaches, to shake up the roster by shuffling in a Kulak once in a while, a Jordan Weal against faster teams to 'rest' Kovy.  'Tout le monde est dans la bonne chaise,' or at least a seat at the table a little more suited to their ability.

If he does right his game, maybe we can flip him back to St. Louis or Winnipeg or another contender at the trade deadline, possibly, if we won't need him.  Maybe he can be seen as a final piece, and term and salary cap won't be an issue, like it was for L.A. If not, he finishes the season, cleans out his locker and goes on his merry way.

Or maybe he brings us the 4 or 5 points that we were missing last season to slip in the playoffs?  One SO goal that he scores instead of sending Gally or Danault out there, an extra PP goal or two he scores or creates because he can spread out/mess up the box, standing in the left faceoff circle for a one-timer, and we're there.

If he's completely out of gas and truly finished as an NHL player, which I don't think so, since he was at .5 pts/game this season, but if he is, then waive him and he retires rather than play in Laval at $70 000.  No muss, no fuss.

This isn't Kaberle or Gomez all over again.  This is swinging at the golf ball with a mulligan already attached to it if needed.

But I'll countenance dissenting views...

(Martin Leclerc: Kovalchuk : la cavalerie est trop vieille et arrive trop tard)

(François Gagnon: Ilya Kovalchuk : le pari de la dernière chance)

(Ken Campbell: GETTING MARCO SCANDELLA AND ILYA KOVALCHUK MIGHT HURT THE CANADIENS MORE THAN HELP THEM)


ADDENDUM:


Marc Bergevin on the Ilya Kovalchuk acquisition

--he shouldn't play Saturday night against the Penguins (visa issues)
--is a minimal risk, short or long term
--Nate Thompson and Scott Mellanby played with him and recommended him (good in the room I guess)
--the Canadiens aren't 'sellers', still gunning for the playoffs.  The GM wanted reinforcements while the injured players recover.
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1 comment:

  1. Ian6 January 2020 at 20:34

    Totally agree with your insights! Enjoy reading your blogs.

    Ian in Niagara,

    ReplyDelete

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