montreal canadiens hockey - habs blog

The Canadiens are expected to be active in the free agent market which takes off July 1st.

The Habs are also expected to lose a few familiar faces this summer.
Depending how you feel these can be considered important players.

Niklas Sundstrom is leaving the NHL to return to Sweden. Sundstrom’s play has been declining for quite some time and he can no longer play a regular role at the NHL level. Few people if any will be shedding tears that Niklas is gone.

Jan Bulis on the other hand is a little different. Bulis doesn’t feel appreciated in Montreal and will be leaving the Habs.

Bulis became a healthy scratch and was on the trade block for much of last season. For whatever reason Gainey is less than impressed with Bulis but it’s rumored to be an attitude issue. Bulis showed signs of being a good player but his consistency and effort were not always there. He had his chance and his time as a Hab is just about done.

The real disaster would be to lose Francis Bouillon. Contract talks are moving slowly and Bouillon might test the free agent waters. Out of all the players mentioned Bouillon is the one that can’t get away. Bouillon is one of the more consistent defenseman with a heart much bigger than his size. If everyone put forth the same effort the Canadiens would be a hard team to beat.

Unless the Canadiens plan to bring in a big name Defenseman to play 25+ minutes they should not let Bouillon get away.

“Cristobal Huet is a very valuable member of the Canadiens’ organization who helped our team to clinch a playoff berth last season,” said general manager Bob Gainey. “Cristobal likes the city of Montreal, we know he wanted to remain with the Canadiens, and we are pleased to have him under contract for the next two seasons.”

The first piece of the puzzle has been put in place. The Canadiens #1 netminder has been signed for 2 years.

Huet was the biggest and best surprise of last season and almost single handedly carried the team into the Playoffs.

Huet came to the Habs as a toss in with absolutely no expectations and worked himself into a prime time NHL starting goalie. Will he be able to excel at the same level for an 82 game season now that he is the undisputed #1 for the most storied NHL franchise?

What does this mean for David Aebischer? Is Gainey still going with the 2 goalie approach or should we expect Abeischer to be a in a different jersey come October?

Abeischer wants to be a starter and now that Huet is locked up it looks less and less that Abby will be a Habby for much longer. Plenty of teams still need goaltending and Abeischer still holds some value. If there is anything of value on the table then Gainey will make the right deal.

Cristobal Huet will be carrying the load with help from Yann Danis next fall.