Something Brewing In Hab Town?

With draft day just 21 days away there is too much of nothing going on in Montreal. Too quiet. With all the restricted free agents and a few unrestricted free agents the Montreal Canadiens have to sign, could one think that Habs general manager Bob Gainey is up to something?

The Montreal Canadiens are heading into draft day so far without signing any of their RFA’s or UFA’s. With the top priority for the Habs being the Mark Streit situation, there has been no news since the end of the Habs post season campaign. One has to think that Gainey is up to something.

Mats Sundin–who the Canadiens tried to acquire at the trade deadline–has yet to make up his mind about his future, or has he?
David Shoalts of The Globe and Mail wrote an article called “Sundin Coy About Future”. In this article Mats Sundin was asked if he was going to retire or return to the Maple Leafs, Sundin replied,

“I do think I have a lot of different options I can explore. I think I still want to end my career as a Toronto Maple Leaf. Saying that though, the way the situation is right now, I don’t have everything in my control either.”

Sundin went on to say,

“There’s got to be a mutual agreement there. And as I said, I don’t have anything I can say about what’s going to happen next year yet. I don’t know. Obviously what’s going to happen in Toronto is very interesting, and it’s going to affect my decision in the future.”

When Sundin was asked when he thought his decision would be made, Sundin had this to say,

“In the next month or so, I guess.”

Wow. For someone who said in late February that he wanted to stay in Toronto he sure changed his mind quick.

If Sundin becomes a UFA come July 1, Montreal will surely knock on his door again. Sundin made $5.5 million last season and if one reads between the lines he will want more to play next year. Will the Habs clear some space to accommodate him? I believe so.

With Bob Gainey studying what’s happening around the league right now, is he also planning something? Gainey has a plethora of young players to sign and his pick in this year’s draft to go along with a potentially un-happy goalie in Jaroslav Halak to deal with. Will Gainey make something happen at the draft and worry about signing players after the draft to see what he has left?

There are rampant reports in Montreal that the Tampa Bay Lightning could be preparing a trade including Vincent Lecavalier and Evgeni Artyukhin. Could Gainey be secretly in on this deal? With the sale of the Bolts being imminent, I find it hard to believe that the new owners wouldn’t want Lecavalier’s star power on the team but they could also want to start their own team with Steve Stamkos expected to be their pick in this year’s draft.

Then there is the Marian Hossa sweepstakes which will commence on July 1, 2008. Hossa will be the most sough after UFA this summer. With most likely almost all the 30 teams in the NHL already talking to his agent, Hossa will have exactly what he wants. Gainey also went after Hossa at the trade deadline. Will he attempt to sign Sundin and Hossa? Is Gainey preparing something at the draft to enable him to do so?

The goalie situation is also interesting. With Carey Price being the franchise goalie it and the Habs needing an experienced goalie to help Price develop and provide some relief duties, will Gainey go after disgusted goalie Olaf Kolzig? Kolzig was basically replaced buy Christobal Huet when the Canadiens traded him there at the deadline. Kolzig has said that he will not be returning to the Washington Capitals.

TSN wrote an article on Kolzig, when asked about his feelings on how the turn of event affected him Kolzig replied,

“For me it was disappointing the way it ended. It’s unfortunate because they have a good team here now. It’s a fantastic team, fantastic group of guys. Not to be part of that is going to be tough, especially after 17 years and three years of what we went through post lock out.”

When Kolzig was asked about his future he had this to say,

“I haven’t completely made up my mind. For me it’s all about my family. The situation has to be good for my family. I still feel that I can be a dominant goalie in this league. If the offer is not out there…. I’ll just sit by the pool with a six-pack.”

It is too quiet in Montreal right now. Nothing is going on. Some are speculating that there is something going on. Gainey could be setting the table to do something at the draft to either set his team up to sign a couple of UFA’s (Sundin, Hossa) or acquire a player to entice one or both of those players to come to Montreal. Gainey has to make his team better than last year as all NHL eyes will be on the Habs considering all the celebrations planned for this year.