Habs Offseason So Far

Bob Gainey and company have been rather busy since the Montreal Canadians season was ended by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After deciding to let Jaroslav Halak go play in the World Championships for team Slovakia he immediately signed 19 year old goaltender out of the WHL's Tri-City Americans Carey Price to play for the Hamilton Bulldogs.

He then went on to sign Andrei Kostitsyn's younger brother Sergei from the OHL's London Knights and Matheiu Carle out of the QMJHL. Price, Kostitsyn and Carle have all been with the surprising Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL who are currently beating the Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup finals with a 2-1 series lead.

After that Gainey moved on to probably the 2 most important issues, trying to resign both Andrei Markov and Sheldon Souray. Souray coming off a 26 goal 64 point campaign where he also broke the NHL record for PPG scored by a defencemen in one season with 19. With all these good stats Souray had there was also some bad ones. He was a team worst -28 and made his way on the highlight of the night a few times but for the wrong reason. It is believed he could make more then 6 million over 4 years on the open market but the Habs will likely be looking to sign him for something much less. Reports are that he was offered a 4 year deal worth anywhere from $4.25-$5.25 per year. Markov on the other hand had another solid season with 49 points and a +2 rating. He was given a 4 year deal worth $5.75 million a year which was more than I personally thought he would get but then again Montreal NEEDS him more then they need Souray.

Some smaller moves by Gainey was trading for the twin brother of WJC stand out Kris Russel, forward Ryan Russel from the New York Rangers and went on to sign him to a 3 year pro contract. NYR were unable to come to terms on a conract with Russel so they accepted a 7th round pick in this years draft instead of losing him for nothing. Last year he played for The Kootney Ice of the WHL and was on a line with current Montreal draft pick Ben Maxwell. He is a good offensive player with good vision but is small which is his weak spot.

The Habs also signed Finish Elite League player Janne Lahti to a 1 year contract. The 25 year old had a solid season for HPK last year netting 20 goals and 14 helpers. He is a big (200lbs, 6'2) winger who also has a scoring touch. Both players are expected to start in the AHL next year with Lahti maybe cracking the big clubs roster.

It is said that Montreal will try to be active in the free agent market. If they can get rid of underachieving winger Sergei Samsonov's salary that will free up some valuable cap room to help them sign players like Chris Drury or Daniel Briere. If they are unable to sign Souray look for the Habs to turn they're attention to Nashville's defencemen Kimmo Timonen or San Jose's Scott Hannan.