Lecavalier, Jokinen, Hossa To Montreal Before Next Season?
The season is almost finished in the NHL, and there will be many free agents come July 1, and some players will want to change addresses pending what their teams do to get into the play-offs.
Vincent Lecavalier, it has been widely rumoured by various media outlets that Vinny could ask for a trade out of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization before the next season, which would pretty much kill any hopes of bringing the Lightning back to glory any time soon as the owners traded forward Brad Richards and his 7.8 million dollar salary out of town to make space and re-sign Dan Boyle, which they already have, and to hopefully sign Vinny to a super long-term deal. If Lecavalier asks for a trade, I wonder if Montreal would put together an interesting package for him? Of course they would, don’t forget Saku Koivu’s contract is over after next season, so they would have that 4 million plus salary to work with, and he would instantly become the one around Montreal.
Olli Jokinen, with the impending play-offs to seemingly start without the Florida Panthers, and Jokinen still signed for two more years after this season, Jokinen becomes very interesting to some teams, like the Montreal Canadiens who need a big center to compete and win face-offs, and at a little more than 5 million a season, considering today’s salaries, Olli becomes a bargain, but with Jacques Martin’s job becoming more and more in danger as the Panthers might not make the play-offs, who will be the next general manager? Would the next gm be willing to deal Jokinen to the Habs?
Marian Hossa, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in a quandary at the end of the play-offs. The next season will see Sidney Crosby’s 8.5 million dollar salary kick in, and Ryan Malone will be a free agent, not to mention Evgeni Malkin will want some decent bucks, the most probable scenario is the Pens will not be able to sign Hossa as they have to sign too many of the players they want to keep in the organization, so for all intents and purposes, Hossa will most likely go to a team that was in the running for him before the Pens swooped in at the last second and stole him from the Montreal Canadiens, or the Ottawa Senators.
The Habs are going to have some free agents as well like, Brian Smolinski, Tommy Kostopulous, Steve Begin, Patrice Brisebois, to name a few. And after next season the likes of Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, will become free agents. So, the Canadiens are going to have to do their homework and decide who they want to keep, what they are going to bring up from the farm, and what free agents they will go after. Being that the best teams are always built from within, with a little help from good veterans, it will be interesting to see what happens in Montreal on draft day, and July1, free agent day.
Author Bio
An avid hockey fan. Favorite team is the Montreal Canadiens.
I grew up in Montreal following the Habs all my life.
My thought is that hockey is the greatest sport.
I eat and sleep hockey.
I watch anywhere between 250-400 NHL games a year.
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I don’t see Lecavalier going anywhere. After trading Richards, I think the Bolts will hang on to their best player.
Ditto for Jokinen. I don’t think he gets moved.
Now, Hossa I can see suiting up for the Canadiens.
He’s made it clear he wants to play for a contender and in a big hockey market, so why not Montreal?
by Alin Mateescu on March 7th, 2008 at 11:27 PM EST