How Would You Construct Next Year's Defense?

[DA_Champion]

This topic, currently one of the most interesting in Habs-land, is currently scattered between the Gauthier thread, the Markov thread, the Hamrlik thread, etc. I've decided to try and fit it into one thread here.

We'll have under contract:

Spacek - 1 more year at 3.83 million

Subban - 1 more year at 0.875 million, then he's an RFA

Gorges, Weber, and Picard will be RFAs.

Outgoing UFA:

Markov, 32, 5.75 million

Hamrlik, 37, 5.5 million

Gill, 36, 2.25 million

Wisniewski, 27, 3.25 million

Sopel, 34, 2.33 million

Mara, 31, 0.75 million

These are all the outgoing UFA dmen from this year's crop with a cap hit of 2 million or greater (my quality control), current Habs players are bolded.

Jovanovski, Ed 35 Phoenix Coyotes Defence ufa 6.500 6.000

Lidstrom, Nicklas 41 Detroit Red Wings Defence ufa 6.200 6.200

Markov, Andrei 32 Montreal Canadiens Defence ufa 5.750 5.750

McCabe, Bryan 36 New York Rangers Defence ufa 5.750 4.150

Hamrlik, Roman 37 Montreal Canadiens Defence ufa 5.500 5.500

Hannan, Scott 32 Washington Capitals Defence ufa 4.500 4.500

Kaberle, Tomas 33 Boston Bruins Defence ufa 4.250 4.250

Brewer, Eric 32 Tampa Bay Lightning Defence ufa 4.250 4.500

Pitkanen, Joni 27 Carolina Hurricanes Defence ufa 4.000 4.500

Bieksa, Kevin 30 Vancouver Canucks Defence ufa 3.750 3.500

Salo, Sami 36 Vancouver Canucks Defence ufa 3.500 3.500

Wisniewski, James 27 Montreal Canadiens Defence ufa 3.250 3.250

Ehrhoff, Christian 29 Vancouver Canucks Defence ufa 3.100 3.400

White, Ian 27 San Jose Sharks Defence ufa 3.000 3.000

Staios, Steve 37 Calgary Flames Defence ufa 2.700 2.200

Wallin, Niclas 36 San Jose Sharks Defence ufa 2.500 2.500

Sopel, Brent 34 Montreal Canadiens Defence ufa 2.333 2.000

Vandermeer, Jim 31 Edmonton Oilers Defence ufa 2.300 2.300

Gill, Hal 36 Montreal Canadiens Defence ufa 2.250 2.250

Hejda, Jan 33 Columbus Blue Jackets Defence ufa 2.000 2.000

[DA_Champion]

My answer:

Markov-Wisniewski

Subban-Hamrlik

Gorges-Spacek

Weber

Markov on a 4-year contract, Wisniewski on a 5-year contract, Hamrlik on a 2-year contract. Have the expirations roll out that way. That way we have 4 offensively competent dmen.

It might be worth it to resign a Mara type player to be a 7th dman. Weber's not that good yet, and we always have injuries.

Also, writing this post it occurs to me that other than Tinordi, the farm system seems depletyed of dmen. I would try and focus on dmen at the draft.

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

This is what I want:

Markov-Subban

It will help Subban develop,and both are responsible offensively and defensively.

Hamrlik-Weber/a young prospect if we sign/a young defensemen we could get by trade

I want Hammer to help develop a young D man.

Wisnewski-Gorges

I want an offense first defensemen like Wisnewski to be paired with a very responsible defensive defensemen like Gorges.

Sopel/Mara

To do this we need to get cap.We could trade Spacek.We will have to sacrifice some of our forwards for cap.I wanna give spare parts though.The veteran forwards haven't been good this year and will have a lower cost.But I have full faith they will bounce back next season.

[Noob616]

Ideally, trade Spacek, and resign Markov (5.5), Wisniewski (3.5 or less or he walks), Hamrlik (3M or less), and whichever one of Gill, Gorges or Mara is cheapest. Preferably Gorges, and under 1.5, but if Gorges' demands are too high, the best thing for the team would be to let him walk and sign either Gill or Mara (my preference would be Mara for the physicality, but the organization seems to like Gill). Hopefully with Hamrlik's salary reduction and other cap savings, we could sign another top pairing defenseman to play beside Markov (Eric Brewer possibly?) for a season or two and then re-evaluate. Weber can round out the 7th spot, and fill in for the inevitable injury bug.

Markov-Top 4 UFA D-man

Hamrlik-Subban

Gill/Gorges/Mara-Wisniewski

I think this gives us a good, fairly well rounded D corps. We'd have two guys capable of playing the PK and PP (Markov, Hamrlik), two guys good on the PP (Subban, Wisniewski), and hopefully two good PK specialists (Gorges/Gill, and the imaginary UFA d-man). Also, I think Mara would also be a good addition at 500K for the 7th/8th spot, and to sub in for more physical teams.

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

Come on guys.Subban is good at the PK,PP and even strength.Please pair him with Marky.I have I hopes for Subban.He already has 14 goals in his rookie season and might get more.He seemed to have learned a lot defensively since being paired with Gill.Now pair him with Markov to make even better.

[hatethosebruins]

Markov-Hamrlik

Subban-Erhoff

Wisniewski-Gorges

Weber

[BigTed3]

Have discussed this in other threads, so I think I've made it relatively clear where I stand, but these would be my goals (how realistic they are is another story):

- trade Spacek if possible

- re-sign Markov, Hamrlik, Wisniewsi, Gorges

- consider retaining Weber, Carle, Gill, or Mara as the 7th D man

- get creative to trade for a shutdown top 4 guy (preferably a righty); I really do believe a guy like Robyn Regehr could be available this off-season although I wonder what it cost us. Of the UFA's listed above, the one I find most interesting is Joni Pitkanen, although the rumor is that he wants to stay in Carolina. He could be another option to replace Wisniewski or Markov though, if the price for one of them is too high.

It leaves me:

Markov (5.5M x 1 year) - ???

Hamrlik (3.5M x 1 year) - Subban (875k)

Gorges (1.8M x 3 years) - Wisniewski (4M x 4 years)

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

I'd sign Wiz at 3-3.5 mil.

[GermanHabsNation]

I'd try to do the following.

- re-sign Markov 4 years / 18.00 million

- re-sign Gorges for 3 years / 7.50 million

- re-sign Wisniewski for 4 years / 16.00 million

- sign Emelin for 3 years / 6.00 million

- sign Jim Vandermeer for 3 years / 7.50 million

- let Hamrlik, Gill, Mara and Sopel walk away

- trade Spacek for a draft-pick

Markov - Subban

Emelin - Wisniewski

Vandermeer - Gorges

Carle and Weber battle for the 7th spot

[Habsology2]

I'd try to do the following.

- re-sign Markov 4 years / 18.00 million

- re-sign Gorges for 3 years / 7.50 million

- re-sign Wisniewski for 4 years / 16.00 million

- sign Emelin for 3 years / 6.00 million

- sign Jim Vandermeer for 3 years / 7.50 million

- let Hamrlik, Gill, Mara and Sopel walk away

- trade Spacek for a draft-pick

Markov - Subban

Emelin - Wisniewski

Vandermeer - Gorges

Carle and Weber battle for the 7th spot

I agree about letting the players you mentioned walk....I don't get what the love-affair is with the aging, slow D that we have. Why would we pay anywhere near 3 mill for Hammer and 2.5 for Gill? We need to get younger ppl!

GermanHabsNation, I like your lines, but I would tweek it a bit and instead of Vandermeer and Gorges, I would sign Ehrhoff (and Bieksa if possible - if not, then try to develop one of the younger kids). I think Gorges is "just ok". I don't think that the team really suffers that much, whether he's in the lineup or not.

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

This is the lines me and a couple other people agreed to do.

Markov-A top 4 defensive defensemen

Hamrlik-Subban

Gorges-Wisnewski

Weber

To get the top 4 D man,resign the D that got injured(Markov and Gorges)we need about 11 mil.These are the guys I wanna give:

Sopel

Spacek

Gill

Picard

Mara

Pyatt

We will get about 8-9 mil assuming a lot of these players are overpayed.Now..we could lower the guys who we are gonna resign's salary by a bit and we will get some more cap...But we need just a little more...

I agree about letting the players you mentioned walk....I don't get what the love-affair is with the aging, slow D that we have. Why would we pay anywhere near 3 mill for Hammer and 2.5 for Gill? We need to get younger ppl!

GermanHabsNation, I like your lines, but I would tweek it a bit and instead of Vandermeer and Gorges, I would sign Ehrhoff (and Bieksa if possible - if not, then try to develop one of the younger kids). I think Gorges is "just ok". I don't think that the team really suffers that much, whether he's in the lineup or not.

Gorges is a big part actually.We used to be 1st in the league for our PK,but when he got injured we went down.

[DA_Champion]

This is the lines me and a couple other people agreed to do.

Markov-A top 4 defensive defensemen

Hamrlik-Subban

Gorges-Wisnewski

Weber

To get the top 4 D man,resign the D that got injured(Markov and Gorges)we need about 11 mil.These are the guys I wanna give:

Sopel

Spacek

Gill

Picard

Mara

Pyatt

We will get about 8-9 mil assuming a lot of these players are overpayed.Now..we could lower the guys who we are gonna resign's salary by a bit and we will get some more cap...But we need just a little more...

We don't get that much money from letting those guys go... we were able to afford all of them at the same time because they came in midway through the season, and the use of the LTIR.

Realistically:

Markov-Spacek

Hamrlik-Subban

Gorges-Wisnewski

Weber

Will cost 19.83 million, assuming a combined 10.25 million for Markov, Hamrlik and Gorges, and 4 million for Wisniewski. If we want a "top-4" dman instead of Spacek as you suggest, we have to trade Spacek, which may or may not be easy, and may require taking on salary. If players like Sourray are untradeable, then Spacek might not be. As far as demand for mediocre dmen go, not one team in the NHL was willing to take Sourray on re-entry waivers, where he would have cost 2.75 million, compared to Spacek's 3.83 million.

That said, if that defense can be made but with someone like Kaberle or Bieksa or Brewer coming in after Spacek is trade, we look good.

[weepingminotaur]

Sign Bieksa for four years

Re-sign Markov for three years

Re-sign Hamrlik for two years

Re-sign Sopel for one year

Markov-Bieksa

Hamrlik-Subban

Spacek-Sopel

Weber

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

We don't get that much money from letting those guys go... we were able to afford all of them at the same time because they came in midway through the season, and the use of the LTIR.

Realistically:

Markov-Spacek

Hamrlik-Subban

Gorges-Wisnewski

Weber

Will cost 19.83 million, assuming a combined 10.25 million for Markov, Hamrlik and Gorges, and 4 million for Wisniewski. If we want a "top-4" dman instead of Spacek as you suggest, we have to trade Spacek, which may or may not be easy, and may require taking on salary. If players like Sourray are untradeable, then Spacek might not be. As far as demand for mediocre dmen go, not one team in the NHL was willing to take Sourray on re-entry waivers, where he would have cost 2.75 million, compared to Spacek's 3.83 million.

That said, if that defense can be made but with someone like Kaberle or Bieksa or Brewer coming in after Spacek is trade, we look good.

This is what the problem is!

I agree with you.I should have included it in my post.We have to find a way to trade Spacek...which is VERY unlikely...Would a team accept him for a 7th round pick in 2012?Actually...probably not...You said that no team took Souray even though he costed less and was on waivers...

We could try Spacek here for another year,but I was hoping for more...

[jedimaas]

Gauthier certainly has his work cut out for him.

Thankfully the most promising dman on our roster (subban) is under contract and the best (markov) will likely sign at a reduced rate because of the risk-factor.

IMHO its a bit tough to try to "build" a defense without having any idea what these guys are looking for. If I were Pierre, I would probably rank my defense in order of importance & sign them accordingly. What that would mean is that guys like Gorges, Sopel - even Hamrlik - may have spots here IF - and only IF - i have squared away my top 2 or 3 guys first.

[gocupcrazy-0607]

Resign:

Markov 3 year at 5.5 per

Wisniewski 5 year at 4 per

Gorges 5 year at 2.7 per

Gill 1 year at 2.0

Hamrlik 1 year at 2.0

Sign BOTH Picard and Weber on a 2 way

Our Lineup:

Markov (5.5) - Subban (0.875)

Gill (2.0) - Gorges (2.7)

Hamrlik (2.0) - Wisniewski (4.0)

Spacek (3.8)

TOTAL: 20.875

If we bring back both Markov and Gorges we need depth in case they re-injure or they are not ready in time. Assuming we bring back Auld or another backup for around 1mill that gives us Price and our backup at 3.75m our defense at 20.875 still leaving tons of room for offence.

[weepingminotaur]

My philosophy, in rebuilding our D, is that we shouldn't expect or try to remake our blue line in a single offseason. This rebuild will take time. Whatever the specific rebuild may be, our governing principle should be to stagger contract expiry dates so that we don't again have everybody hitting some form of free agency in the same offseason. We also have to accept that the blue line may not come be in optimal shape for at least a season, and possibly longer (for example, we'll still have Spacek's contract on the books in 11-12, which limits what we can do this summer).

Here's my order of priority:

1. Build around elements worth keeping in the long term: Markov and Subban.
2. Acquire one or two (probably one, given our cap issues at forward) top-four defensemen who can be part of a long-term solution. Bieksa is probably a good fit here.
3. Add elements at reasonable cost that help us in the short and medium term -- to me, these elements are Hamrlik, Wisniewski (if affordable), and/or Gorges (if affordable).
4. Supplement any deficits through drafting and development, which require time and patience.

Ultimately, we need to ensure that our D corps contains a healthy mix of veterans, youngsters, and players in their prime, with an equally healthy distribution of salary. In today's cap era, nobody is a contender without a smattering of young, dynamic players on ELCs or second contracts playing above the value of their contracts. Conversely, while overpaying for one or two veterans is fine, you can't build a team in free agency. We saw how poorly that worked for Gainey in the summer of 2009 and we're still paying the price.

[BigTed3]

My philosophy, in rebuilding our D, is that we shouldn't expect or try to remake our blue line in a single offseason. This rebuild will take time. Whatever the specific rebuild may be, our governing principle should be to stagger contract expiry dates so that we don't again have everybody hitting some form of free agency in the same offseason. We also have to accept that the blue line may not come be in optimal shape for at least a season, and possibly longer (for example, we'll still have Spacek's contract on the books in 11-12, which limits what we can do this summer).

Here's my order of priority:

1. Build around elements worth keeping in the long term: Markov and Subban.
2. Acquire one or two (probably one, given our cap issues at forward) top-four defensemen who can be part of a long-term solution. Bieksa is probably a good fit here.
3. Add elements at reasonable cost that help us in the short and medium term -- to me, these elements are Hamrlik, Wisniewski (if affordable), and/or Gorges (if affordable).
4. Supplement any deficits through drafting and development, which require time and patience.

Ultimately, we need to ensure that our D corps contains a healthy mix of veterans, youngsters, and players in their prime, with an equally healthy distribution of salary. In today's cap era, nobody is a contender without a smattering of young, dynamic players on ELCs or second contracts playing above the value of their contracts. Conversely, while overpaying for one or two veterans is fine, you can't build a team in free agency. We saw how poorly that worked for Gainey in the summer of 2009 and we're still paying the price.

I mostly agree with you. Subban is obviously the key piece in the D corps going forward and Markov is a key off-season target to solidify the top end of the defence. A few points though:

- I agree with Wis, Gorges, and Hamrlik all being guys we can try to keep around next year, and they provide better options than Sopel, Gill, Picard, or Spacek. That said, you nailed it with the key point that affordability is the issue, just as it is for Markov. We cannot afford to throw money into guys who aren't part of a medium-to-long term solution. Gorges and Wisniewski are still in their mid 20's though and each COULD in theory play a role in our organization for at least 3-4 years. Those two guys may actually be important to get through a transition period, since we don't have any NHL-ready D prospects in Hamilton right now and will need some time to re-stock the farm.

- Spacek is still signed for next year, and to a 35+ contract, so a big part of the equation when it comes to who else we can afford comes down to whether we can rid ourselves of his contract for next year.

- PG's priority in the off-season needs to be to find a shutdown D man (preferably a righty) to play with Markov. He doesn't have to be offensively talented, but we do need a guy with size and defensive ability who scares the opposition a little. I don't think Bieksa is necessarily the answer to playing in the top 4, especially since I think there will be mark-up on his value if the Canucks have a good playoff run.

[MIASUN]

Great thread. The first thing I notice is that the available UFA's are OLD! Pitkanen is the most interesting but Carolina wont let him walk, Vandermeer could be a nice lower tier option. Bieksa or Ehroff would be awesome but the Canucks will have a hard time letting them walk also. I'm going to hope we can land Bieksa anyway. Also, I don't think Markov will command 5.5 million after ~20 games in 2 seasons. Basically there is about 20 million to spend on a defence corps per season and the Habs are blessed that PK is signed for one more year ata bargain basement price.

1 - Andrei Markov 2 years 10 million dollars + bonuses and a player option for a 3rd year. (5 million)

2 - Kevin Bieksa 4 years 16 million dollars (cap hit 4)

3 - Josh Gorges 3 years 8.5 million dollars (cap hit 2.83)

4 - Roman Hamrlik 1 year 3.5 million + bonuses for GP, (cap hit 3.5)

5 - James Wisniewski 3 years 12 million (cap hit 4 million)

6 - PK Subban 0.875 million

7 - Trade Spacek for a draft pick

8 - Re-Sign Yannick Weber for 1 million

Total = 21.205

Markov - Subban

Gorges - Bieksa

Hamrlik - Wisniewski

Weber

[DA_Champion]

This year, the habs have given up a lot to acquire Picard, Wisniewski, Mara, and Sopel. If I recall correctly, I think we gave up a 2nd, a 4th, Ben Maxwell and a 4th round draft pick. Each of those trades is worth individually in my opinion, but when you have several such trades you end up damaging your long-term farm system.

I think it will be worth it to start the season with 8 dmen, and to see if we get NHL-caliber players to play in Hamilton. Right now the only NHL-caliber player we have in Hamilton is Weber... according to management Alex Henry and Mathieu Carle are not good enough to be on the 3rd pairing. Finding a player for Hamilton who might be good enough for the 3rd pairing in case of injuries should be a priority.

[Snow4Habs]

I would keep Spacek and let Hamrlik walk, he clearly is still good to play a lot of minutes which the Habs might want to give Weber, Gorges, Subban the minutes. He deserves good minutes still and Habs won't have. Only would re-sign Gill if he re-signs at a reduced price tag. Mara as a 7th d-men and Weber. Let Sopel walk free and Picard.

Re-sign Markov 3 years at 5.75m

Re-sign Wisniewski 3 years at 4m

Re-sign Gorges 5 years at 3.5m

Re-sign Mara 1 year 1.25m

Re-sign Weber 1 year 600k

15.1m in total cap

Lines would be:

Markov - Gorges

Spacek - Subban

Wisniewski - Mara/Weber

If injuries occur, we can still call up Nash

I would keep Spacek and let Hamrlik walk, he clearly is still good to play a lot of minutes which the Habs might want to give Weber, Gorges, Subban the minutes. He deserves good minutes still and Habs won't have. Only would re-sign Gill if he re-signs at a reduced price tag. Mara as a 7th d-men and Weber. Let Sopel walk free and Picard.

Re-sign Markov 3 years at 5.75m

Re-sign Wisniewski 3 years at 4m

Re-sign Gorges 5 years at 3.5m

Re-sign Mara 1 year 1.25m

Re-sign Weber 1 year 600k

15.1m in total cap + Spacek + Subban = around 19 m

Lines would be:

Markov - Gorges

Spacek - Subban

Wisniewski - Mara/Weber

If injuries occur, we can still call up Nash

[weepingminotaur]

- I agree with Wis, Gorges, and Hamrlik all being guys we can try to keep around next year, and they provide better options than Sopel, Gill, Picard, or Spacek. That said, you nailed it with the key point that affordability is the issue, just as it is for Markov. We cannot afford to throw money into guys who aren't part of a medium-to-long term solution. Gorges and Wisniewski are still in their mid 20's though and each COULD in theory play a role in our organization for at least 3-4 years. Those two guys may actually be important to get through a transition period, since we don't have any NHL-ready D prospects in Hamilton right now and will need some time to re-stock the farm.

To me, Wisniewski is somebody we need to be wary of overpaying. The temptation is to throw money at him because he has produced for us this season, but with Subban's emergence, I don't want to be spending more than $4 million a season on a PP specialist, particularly since Subban, unlike Wis, can play in just about any situation.

Gorges, as well, is someone to sign only if the price is right. He's sort of the living equivalent of the 'medium guys' in the old NHL Ice Hockey: he's not bad in any one area, but isn't very good in any one area either. IMO he's a borderline 4th/5th guy who wears down over an 82-game season because he's not particularly big.

IMO we have leverage on Markov because of the injuries and because I think he genuinely likes playing in Montreal. Wisniewski, after the season he's had, may want top dollar on the UFA market, at which point I politely wish him the best and move on to other options.

- Spacek is still signed for next year, and to a 35+ contract, so a big part of the equation when it comes to who else we can afford comes down to whether we can rid ourselves of his contract for next year.

I know you won't agree with me on this, but I really don't see a problem with retaining Spacek for the final year of his contract. We need all the continuity we can get, considering that Markov, Hamrlik, Gorges, Wisniewski, Mara, Sopel, Picard, and Gill are all hitting some form of free agency. If we can solidify our top-four, we can play Spacek on the third pairing on his natural side, which should improve his performance.

- PG's priority in the off-season needs to be to find a shutdown D man (preferably a righty) to play with Markov. He doesn't have to be offensively talented, but we do need a guy with size and defensive ability who scares the opposition a little. I don't think Bieksa is necessarily the answer to playing in the top 4, especially since I think there will be mark-up on his value if the Canucks have a good playoff run.

I like Bieksa, but I'm open to other top-four options. I agree that the ideal scenario has us finding a physical shutdown stay-at-home type to complement Markov on the top pairing. I know you've mentioned Regheyr (sp) in the past -- I wonder if Calgary would be open to a trade? They seem poised to enter a rebuilding era and it might be just the time to swing a deal with them.

[BigTed3]

To me, Wisniewski is somebody we need to be wary of overpaying. The temptation is to throw money at him because he has produced for us this season, but with Subban's emergence, I don't want to be spending more than $4 million a season on a PP specialist, particularly since Subban, unlike Wis, can play in just about any situation.

Gorges, as well, is someone to sign only if the price is right. He's sort of the living equivalent of the 'medium guys' in the old NHL Ice Hockey: he's not bad in any one area, but isn't very good in any one area either. IMO he's a borderline 4th/5th guy who wears down over an 82-game season because he's not particularly big.

IMO we have leverage on Markov because of the injuries and because I think he genuinely likes playing in Montreal. Wisniewski, after the season he's had, may want top dollar on the UFA market, at which point I politely wish him the best and move on to other options.

I agree re: Wisniewski. I think it's going to take close to 4M a year to keep him, but I also wouldn't be prepared to pay more than that. Either way, I'd have him slotted into the third pairing with a key role on the PP, and one area we can save a lot of money on if he asks for too much is to let him walk and slot Weber into that role. Weber's not as good, but if the savings allow you to improve in another area instead, then maybe we can live with giving Weber the chance to develop in exchange for the cap relief.

Gorges has been very dependable over his carer up until this season, so I wouldn't hold his size against him. The guy keeps getting up and fighting no matter the size of the opponent. I too believe he's a depth guy on the blue line but he can be an effective 5th guy with a role on the PK, and he'd be a nice complement to Wis on that last duo. In that role, I think he has value but not more than 2M (or maybe low 2M's) per year, especially coming off a big surgery.

I know you won't agree with me on this, but I really don't see a problem with retaining Spacek for the final year of his contract. We need all the continuity we can get, considering that Markov, Hamrlik, Gorges, Wisniewski, Mara, Sopel, Picard, and Gill are all hitting some form of free agency. If we can solidify our top-four, we can play Spacek on the third pairing on his natural side, which should improve his performance.

For me, I maintain that I'd like to build around 3 LH and 3 RH D men for next year. I think the plan has to be to try to keep Markov on the left and Gorges is an RFA and will likely be around too, with Subban on the right and Weber either acting as the 7th guy or filling in as the righty on the 3rd pairing (as I said above). But if Gorges is the third pairing guy on the left, where does that leave Jaro? I don't think Spacek is good enough to be a top 4 guy and he's much more expensive than retaining Gorges or Gill, and likely more expensive than retaining Hamrlik (who already said he would take a pay cut to stay and who frankly is better all-around than Spacek). We may end up being stuck with Spacek, but the combination of his salary and the fact that I don't trust him in the top 4 nor do I see him as being a specialist on either the PP or PK means that he adds little to the line-up for what we'd have to pay to keep him. I believe we'd get much more value out of either Gorges or Hamrlik.

I like Bieksa, but I'm open to other top-four options. I agree that the ideal scenario has us finding a physical shutdown stay-at-home type to complement Markov on the top pairing. I know you've mentioned Regheyr (sp) in the past -- I wonder if Calgary would be open to a trade? They seem poised to enter a rebuilding era and it might be just the time to swing a deal with them.

We've mentioned Pouliot maybe being done here, and if the plan is to part ways, he may be an attractive option for another team: a former 4th overall pick with lots of potential and who's still young enough and making a low enough salary, that he would seem right for a team looking to rebuild its top 6 but not start over completely from scratch. He may be a guy around whom we could build a trade for Regehr, who is still signed for a few years at a reasonable salary (for a guy we'd be planning on giving 22-24 min a game to). He would really be a nice complement to the guys we have here and I would be comfortable going into next year with

Markov-Regehr

Hamrlik-Subban

Gorges-Wisniewski

Weber

That would give us time to develop Tinordi to try and replace Regehr and to see if we can find another gem or a UFA or trade acquisition a year later. Of the above guys, I'd have Hamrlik on a one-year deal and the other guys on multi-year deals (unless Markov bites at the one year deal plus bonus clauses) and doing that would allow us to replace Hamrlik in the off-season next year. To boot, all of the guys (other than Subban) in that line-up could be used as trade bait in the event we wanted to change directions, so I don't think we'd be stuck with guys by any means either.

[DA_Champion]

To Calgary

Jarod Tinordi

1st round pick 2013

Benoit Pouliot

To Montreal

Robyn Regehr

Francois Beauchemin, for example, took a combination of a prospect approximately equal to Tinordi (Jake Gardiner, former 17th overall), and Joffrey Lupul, and he is a lesser player than Regehr, and Lupul >> Pouliot.

I think the cost is likely to be high, and we should instead bank for a combination of free agency this year and next, and the continued development of Subban, Weber and Tinordi.

[hatethosebruins]

To Calgary

Jarod Tinordi

1st round pick 2013

Benoit Pouliot

To Montreal

Robyn Regehr

Francois Beauchemin, for example, took a combination of a prospect approximately equal to Tinordi (Jake Gardiner, former 17th overall), and Joffrey Lupul, and he is a lesser player than Regehr, and Lupul >> Pouliot.

I think the cost is likely to be high, and we should instead bank for a combination of free agency this year and next, and the continued development of Subban, Weber and Tinordi.

I'd much rather have Tinordi! 6ft7 first round pick...if we draft Oleksiak (like S-Bah says) then we have another big boy....it'd be great