That team is fighting for a wildcard spot, and probably falling short.
Tampa
Toronto
Boston
Carolina
Florida
Pittsburgh
Washington
Islanders
Those are eight teams that are highly likely to finish ahead of montreal in the regular season. Then there’s philly and the rangers that are in that mix as well.

Vancouver retaining almost $2M for the next 4 years to recoup their investment plus a 27 year old AHL/7th Dman that Vancouver has no shortage of. There is a wayyyyyy better deal to be made than that hot garbage. Chiarot and 3rd would be way more realistic.

Not saying it's a good deal but it's Jim Bennig, anything is possible. I'd be okay with them retaining 950,000$ and I think that would be even.

If there's retention for 4 years then it would have to be atleast Chiarot and a 2nd coming back i think. And sadly the "Benning Factor" is real. So that original might be good enough for JB. lol

I'm okay with relocating the team to Pasadena so that we can join the Pacific division. But realistically, I think if we do Allen for 41 games and Price for 41 then we have a very good chance of clinching. It will be very tough but doable.

I think tough is a bit of an understatement. Montreal has a lot of goals all over.
Goaltending: Price just turned in a heck of a playoff run, but does that erase him being pretty mediocre the last 3-5 seasons? Maybe. Probably not though.
Defense: that top four is okay. I think thats the nicest you can put it. That’s with schmidt and Weber not experiencing any more decline. Petry had a rock star beginning to the season, but since? Meh.
Forwards: like a lot of pieces here, but is Suzuki a real top line center? What is caufield? Is he really a top line guy, or is one of the infinite number of guys that have a hot start and then the league figures them out a bit. I think it’s the former, but who knows.

I think the habs are short a legit number one center, and a legit number one d man before being a true contender.

I think Allen is the better goalie during the regular season, besides one season where he played every minute until January, he has always posted solid numbers. I think Price might have some motivation following the loss so I think he'd have a solid 41 games. Nothing spectacular but if we can get average numbers from him then that would be great.
I'd be okay with bringing back Danault but I don't know if it would work out, I wouldn't give him more than 4.5mil. I really liked Danault this playoffs, he was incredible.
I heard some people say we need Monahan but I don't think that would work. Maybe we can make a big splash and go for Dubois but I doubt it.
These are just some ideas, I'm only an armchair GM so I like hearing what others think. We really will have a tough season this year but if the culture stays the same in the locker room and if we can avoid big injuries, I think we'll have a chance.