Hickey: Centres, penalty killers focal points of Canadiens' off-season
Montreal Canadiens
By Special to the Montreal Gazette
What price should a team place on a competent penalty kill?
That's a question facing the Canadiens as they look ahead to next season.
One of the keys to the Canadiens' season was the penalty kill, which ranked ninth in the NHL with a success rate of 80.9 per cent. But the Canadiens are facing the loss of three of the top performers on the PK.
David Savard, who was second to fellow defenceman Mike Matheson in short-handed ice time, has retired and centre Christian Dvorak and winger Joel Armia, who were fourth and fifth, respectively, in short-handed ice time, are eligible to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
The more valuable of the two UFAs is Dvorak and he's the least likely to return. As the players cleaned out their lockers, Dvorak said he enjoyed his time in Montreal, but he also framed his experiences in the past tense.
He's valuable because, in addition to killing penalties, he was the team's top centre in faceoffs and, as a lefty, he offers a balance to righties Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans. He also led all Montreal forwards with 74 blocked shots. But Dvorak had a cap hit of US$4.45 million and retaining him would require his accepting a deep hometown discount.
Armia, who leaves the impression that someone with his size and strength should produce like the first-round (No. 16 overall) draft choice he was in 2011, has begun negotiations with the Canadiens and the question is how much of a cut he's willing to take from his US$3.4-million cap hit.
Needy Canadiens: Montreal's off-season priority begins — and ends — with finding a second-line centre and there are two options.
The first is to find a 30-something UFA, someone who could hold the fort for two or three seasons until Owen Beck, Michael Hage or Jared Davidson are ready for prime time. The list of top available players is limited to Matt Duchene, Brock Nelson and John Tavares.
If the Canadiens don't have confidence in the kids, it might be prudent to look for a long-term solution. Sam Bennett turns 29 in June and has a Stanley Cup ring, but a better ploy might be an offer sheet for a restricted free agent like Mason McTavish. The 22-year-old has good size, wins more faceoffs than he loses and has shown growth in each of his three NHL seasons. He might relish the opportunity to escape a losing team in Anaheim, particularly if he has the chance to play for a long time alongside Ivan Demidov.
The Canadiens do not need a veteran defenceman to replace Savard. They have two veterans in Matheson and Alexander Carrier and it's time to see if Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom are ready for the next level.
Anyone who is concerned that the defence is too young should be reminded that the last time the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, they had six defencemen under the age of 25 — Patrice Brisebois, Mathieu Schneider, Lyle Odelein, Éric Desjardins, Sean Hill and Kevin Haller.
Battle of the goalies: Goals should be hard to come by when the Laval Rocket faces the Rochester Americans in the best-of-five AHL North Division final.
Newcomer Jacob Fowler was in net for all three victories as Laval eliminated Cleveland in four games in a division semifinal. He has a 3-0 record, 1.00 goals-against average, .953 save percentage and one shutout.
Those numbers are tough to beat, but Dollard-des-Ormeaux native Devon Levi led Rochester to a sweep of the Syracuse Crunch in the other semifinal. He has a 3-0 record, 0.67 GAA, .978 save percentage and two shutouts.
Fowler is 5-1 since wrapping up a stellar collegiate career at Boston College. He is pencilled in as the starter in Laval next season, but don't be surprised if he challenges Jakub Dobes for the backup job with the Canadiens.
Rantanen reaps revenge: It's rare for a rental to make a major impact in the playoffs, but Mikko Rantanen is leading the charge for the Dallas Stars. The Colorado Avalanche and the Carolina Hurricanes traded Rantanen because they didn't feel they could fit the 28-year-old under their salary cap after he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Rantanen made Colorado regret its decision Saturday when he spearheaded a comeback in Game 7 of their Western Conference quarter-final. The Avalanche led 2-0 going into the third period, but he had a period for the ages with three goals and an assist on Wyatt Johnston's game-winner to give Dallas a 4-2 victory.
Rantanen had another three-goal game Wednesday as Dallas took the home-ice advantage away from Winnipeg with a 3-2 win in Game 1 of their Western semifinal. He leads the playoff scoring race with eight goals and 15 points in eight games, which makes him the clubhouse leader for the Conn Smythe Trophy.
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