A lot have been said about the Habs poor showing this past season, and I’ve seen a lot of valid points calling for a complete rebuild of the team.
Nevertheless, I’d like to argue for the exact opposite, and bring forward a realistic course of actions that would bolster the team from bottom dwellers to Cup contenders in a single offseason.
Here’s what could be done:
- Trade for Perreault – WPG can spare a center;
- Sign Stastny and De Haan – I wouldn’t mind the inflated value of Stastny’s contract, he’s got the pedigree, he’s not declining and he would make the team better;
- Buyout/bury all players that hamper the team chances to win – Alzner, DLR, Froese, L.Shaw, Reilly and Deslauriers should not be allowed to play another single minute for the Habs in this life or another.
If MB manages to do all this, he would have boosted the avg WAR/60 of the team by +0.015. That might not look like much, but over a full season, it adds up. Now, imagine if Price gets back to his former self, and contributes an additional 6 to 10 wins. Just like that, the team would run away with the division title…
Side note about the Pacioretty trade: he doesn’t have to go (he’s one of the top contributors to this team). The thing is, he’s getting older, the wings are stacked and the prospect pool is thin, so he’s traded for futures. As outlined above, it's not required to trade him for a roster player, but let’s say it happens, it would have to be for a better one: ROR, Rackell, Trocheck, Zibanejad or Giroux. Nobody else. Bjugstad, RNH, Brodin, Coyle and the likes should not even be part of the discussion. Stats are speaking: they won’t make the team better.
"WPG could spare a center." Yeah they could, but not two of them. If they were to sell either Perreault or Little, they will not give up Stastny. They'll resign him with the money they get from sparing the other center.
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