2015 Free Agency

[HabsRuleForever]

Canada Day is the start of let's overpay day.

Here's the list of potential players & what they made last season

Abbott, Spencer CHI LW UFA 575,000
Acton, Will VAN LW UFA 680,000
Adams, Craig PIT RW UFA 700,000
Allen, Bryan MON D UFA 3,500,000
Angelidis, Michael TB C UFA 650,000
Bachman, Richard EDM G UFA 615,000
Bagnall, Drew BUF D UFA 550,000
Ballard, Keith MIN D UFA 2,000,000
Bartkowski, Matt BOS D UFA 1,250,000
Bass, Cody CHI C UFA 550,000
Beagle, Jay WAS RW UFA 1,000,000
Beauchemin, Francois ANA D UFA 3,500,000
Beleskey, Matt ANA LW UFA 1,400,000
Bellemore, Brett CAR D UFA 600,000
Benoit, Andre BUF D UFA 800,000
Bergenheim, Sean MIN LW UFA 2,750,000
Bernier, Steve NJ RW UFA 600,000
Bickel, Stu MIN RW UFA 600,000
Biega, Alex VAN D UFA 600,000
Blunden, Michael TB RW UFA 600,000
Bodie, Troy TOR LW UFA 600,000
Booth, David TOR LW UFA 1,100,000
Boulton, Eric NYI LW UFA 650,000
Bourque, Christopher NYR LW UFA 600,000
Brewer, Eric TOR D UFA 2,742,500
Briere, Danny COL C UFA 4,000,000
Brodziak, Kyle MIN C UFA 3,000,000
Budaj, Peter WIN G UFA 1,400,000
Butler, Bobby FLA RW UFA 600,000
Butler, Chris STL D UFA 650,000
Campbell, Andrew PHO D UFA 550,000
Campbell, Gregory BOS C UFA 1,700,000
Cannone, Pat STL C UFA 550,000
Carcillo, Daniel CHI LW UFA 550,000
Carey, Paul BOS C UFA 715,000
Carkner, Matt NYI D UFA 1,500,000
Carter, Ryan MIN LW UFA 725,000
Chorney, Taylor PIT D UFA 550,000
Cleary, Dan DET LW UFA 1,500,000
Clemmensen, Scott NJ G UFA 600,000
Colaiacovo, Carlo PHI D UFA 625,000
Cole, Erik DET LW UFA 4,000,000
Comeau, Blake PIT LW UFA 700,000
Condra, Erik OTT RW UFA 1,300,000
Conner, Chris WAS RW UFA 550,000
Corrente, Matthew TB D UFA 550,000
Cote, Jean-Phillippe TB D UFA 550,000
Crabb, Joey NYR RW UFA 600,000
Cracknell, Adam STL RW UFA 600,000
Craig, Ryan CLB C UFA 600,000
Crombeen, B.J. PHO RW UFA 1,150,000
Cullen, Matt NAS C UFA 4,000,000
Cumiskey, Kyle CHI D UFA 600,000
Curry, John MIN G UFA 575,000
Desjardins, Andrew CHI C UFA 750,000
Diaz, Raphael CGY D UFA 700,000
Downie, Steve PIT RW UFA 1,000,000
Drazenovic, Nicholas PIT C UFA 550,000
Drewiske, Davis MON D UFA 650,000
Dubnyk, Devan MIN G UFA 800,000
Dwyer, Patrick CAR RW UFA 900,000
Eaves, Patrick DAL RW UFA 650,000
Ehrhoff, Christian PIT D UFA 4,000,000
Ellis, Dan FLA G UFA 1,000,000
Ellis, Matt BUF LW UFA 550,000
Emery, Ray PHI G UFA 1,000,000
Enroth, Jhonas DAL G UFA 1,250,000
Erat, Martin PHO LW UFA 2,250,000
Erskine, John WAS D UFA 2,000,000
Fasth, Viktor EDM G UFA 3,400,000
Fedun, Taylor SJ D UFA 575,000
Fehr, Eric WAS RW UFA 1,600,000
Fisher, Mike NAS C UFA 4,200,000
Fleischmann, Tomas ANA C UFA 4,500,000
Franson, Cody NAS D UFA 3,300,000
Fraser, Colin X STL C UFA 650,000
Fraser, Mark NJ D UFA 550,000
Frolik, Michael WIN RW UFA 3,300,000
Gagne, Simon BOS LW UFA 600,000
Gervais, Bruno COL D UFA 650,000
Glencross, Curtis WAS LW UFA 2,500,000
Goc, Marcel STL C UFA 1,200,000
Gomez, Scott NJ C UFA 550,000
Gonchar, Sergei MON D UFA 4,600,000
Green, Mike WAS D UFA 6,250,000
Greiss, Thomas PIT G UFA 1,000,000
Gustavsson, Jonas DET G UFA 1,850,000
Haley, Micheal SJ C UFA 600,000
Halischuk, Matt WIN RW UFA 725,000
Hannan, Scott SJ D UFA 1,000,000
Harding, Josh MIN G UFA 2,100,000
Harrold, Peter NJ D UFA 800,000
Havlat, Martin NJ RW UFA 1,500,000
Heatley, Dany FLA RW UFA 1,000,000
Hejda, Jan COL D UFA 3,250,000
Henderson, Kevin NAS LW UFA 550,000
Hillen III, Jack CAR D UFA 700,000
Hodgman, Justin PHO C UFA 550,000
Holmstrom, Ben CAR C UFA 600,000
Holzer, Korbinian ANA D UFA 850,000
Horcoff, Shawn DAL C UFA 3,000,000
Hunwick, Matt NYR D UFA 600,000
Irwin, Matt SJ D UFA 1,100,000
Jackman, Barret STL D UFA 3,250,000
Janssen, Cam NJ RW UFA 575,000
Jeffrey, Dustin NYI LW UFA 600,000
Joensuu, Jesse EDM LW UFA 1,000,000
Johnson, Aaron OTT D UFA 800,000
Jokinen, Olli STL C UFA 2,500,000
Jones, Blair PHI C UFA 600,000
Kaleta, Patrick BUF RW UFA 1,250,000
Kennedy, Tyler NYI C UFA 2,350,000
Kopecky, Tomas FLA RW UFA 2,850,000
Kostka, Michael NYR D UFA 650,000
Labarbera, Jason ANA G UFA 750,000
Labrie, Pierre-Cedric CHI LW UFA 550,000
Landry, Jon WAS D UFA 550,000
Lapierre, Maxim PIT C UFA 1,200,000
Leggio, David PHO G UFA 700,000
Leighton, Michael CHI G UFA 550,000
Leopold, Jordan MIN D UFA 1,750,000
Lerg, Bryan SJ LW UFA 575,000
Letestu, Mark CLB C UFA 1,300,000
Letourneau-Leblond, Pierre-Luc PIT LW UFA 550,000
Lindback, Anders BUF G UFA 925,000
Louis, Mark NYI D UFA 550,000
Malhotra, Manny MON C UFA 850,000
Malone, Ryan NYR RW UFA 700,000
Martin, Paul PIT D UFA 5,000,000
Matthias, Shawn VAN C UFA 1,850,000
McBain, Jamie LA D UFA 550,000
McCarthy, John STL LW UFA 600,000
Mcdonald, Colin NYI RW UFA 675,000
McElhinney, Curtis CLB G UFA 600,000
McGrattan, Brian CGY RW UFA 750,000
McKenna, Mike PHO G UFA 550,000
Mclaren, Frazer TOR LW UFA 700,000
McQuaid, Adam BOS D UFA 1,800,000
Meszaros, Andrej BUF D UFA 4,125,000
Michalek, Zbynek STL D UFA 2,000,000
Miele, Andy DET C UFA 600,000
Moore, Mike WAS D UFA 550,000
Morrow, Brenden TB LW UFA 1,550,000
Moss, David PHO RW UFA 800,000
Mouillierat, Kael NYI C UFA 675,000
Mueller, Chris NYR C UFA 600,000
Mullen, Patrick OTT D UFA 700,000
Neuvirth, Michal NYI G UFA 2,600,000
Newbury, Kris WAS C UFA 550,000
Niemi, Antti SJ G UFA 4,000,000
O'Brien, Shane FLA D UFA 650,000
O'Neill, Will WIN D UFA 575,000
O'Reilly, Cal VAN C UFA 600,000
Oduya, Johnny CHI D UFA 2,825,000
Orr, Colton TOR RW UFA 925,000
Paille, Daniel BOS LW UFA 1,300,000
Pardy, Adam WIN D UFA 700,000
Peverley, Rich DAL C UFA 3,375,000
Piskula, Joe NAS D UFA 550,000
Porter, Chris STL C UFA 700,000
Porter, Kevin DET LW UFA 600,000
Potter, Corey CGY D UFA 700,000
Prosser, Nate MIN D UFA 700,000
Ramo, Karri CGY G UFA 2,900,000
Rechlicz, Joel MIN RW UFA 600,000
Reese, Dylan PHO D UFA 550,000
Regehr, Robyn LA D UFA 3,000,000
Richards, Brad CHI C UFA 2,000,000
Richardson, Brad VAN RW UFA 1,150,000
Robins, Bobby BOS C UFA 600,000
Rosehill, Jay PHI RW UFA 675,000
Roy, Derek EDM C UFA 1,000,000
Rozsival, Michal CHI D UFA 1,750,000
Ryder, Michael NJ RW UFA 3,500,000
Salvador, Bryce NJ D UFA 3,250,000
Samson, Jerome TB RW UFA 650,000
Sanguinetti, Bobby VAN D UFA 600,000
Santorelli, Michael NAS C UFA 1,500,000
Schlemko, David CGY D UFA 1,275,000
Scott, John SJ LW UFA 700,000
Sekera, Andrej LA D UFA 1,750,000
Sestito, Tim NJ C UFA 575,000
Sestito, Tommy VAN LW UFA 850,000
Setoguchi, Devin CGY RW UFA 750,000
Sheppard, James NYR C UFA 1,200,000
Sill, Zach TOR C UFA 550,000
Skille, Jack CLB RW UFA 750,000
Slater, Jim WIN C UFA 1,600,000
Smith, Trevor TOR C UFA 550,000
Soderberg, Carl BOS C UFA 1,000,000
Souray, Sheldon ANA D UFA 3,500,000
St Denis, Frederic CLB D UFA 550,000
St Louis, Martin NYR RW UFA 5,000,000
Stafford, Drew WIN RW UFA 4,000,000
Stempniak, Lee WIN RW UFA 900,000
Stewart, Chris MIN RW UFA 2,100,000
Stoll, Jarret LA C UFA 3,250,000
Stollery, Karl SJ D UFA 605,000
Stortini, Zachery PHI RW UFA 575,000
Strachan, Tyson BUF D UFA 650,000
Thiessen, Brad CGY G UFA 550,000
Tlusty, Jiri WIN C UFA 2,950,000
Upshall, Scottie FLA LW UFA 3,500,000
Van Der Gulik, David LA RW UFA 550,000
Vande Velde, Chris PHI C UFA 575,000
Veilleux, Stephane MIN LW UFA 575,000
Vermette, Antoine CHI C UFA 3,750,000
Volchenkov, Anton NAS D UFA 1,000,000
Volpatti, Aaron WAS LW UFA 600,000
Ward, Joel WAS RW UFA 3,000,000
Weaver, Mike MON D UFA 1,750,000
Welsh, Jeremy STL LW UFA 550,000
White, Ryan PHI RW UFA 575,000
Whitney, Joe NJ LW UFA 550,000
Williams, Justin LA RW UFA 3,050,000
Wilson, Ryan COL D UFA 2,375,000
Winnik, Daniel PIT C UFA 650,000
Zajac, Darcy NJ RW UFA 550,000
Zanon, Greg FLA D UFA 600,000
Zepp, Rob PHI G UFA 600,000
Zidlicky, Marek DET D UFA 2,000,000
Zolnierczyk, Harry NYI LW UFA 650,000

[RicochetII]

Avalanche just acquired the rights to Soderberg for a 6th. Fueling speculation that O'Reilly will be moved of course.

[kinot-1]

All tweets:

Garth Snow says he doesn't plan of trading Kyle Okposo.

Coyotes have two firm offers for the No. 3 pick outright plus several more offers that are a combination of pick(s) and player(s)

Brendan Shanahan says interest has been 'strong' but the Leafs won't rush a Phil Kessel trade

Brendan Shanahan says the interest level in Phil Kessel has been high. Says he's the Leaf who's gotten most interest and phone calls

[kinot-1]

Carl Soderberg deal with Colorado is done. 5 years, 4.75 AAV.

[jedimaas]

Carl Soderberg deal with Colorado is done. 5 years, 4.75 AAV.

wow. good thing we had that lockout eh?

Nearly $5m per year for a 29 yr old third liner* who has played 2 NHL seasons. Yikes. (*Albeit a very good two way third liner, but not a top line player by any stretch of the imagination)

[RicochetII]

TSN is reporting Dougie Hamilton (BOS) to Calgary. Return not sure yet.

Wow.

EDIT: 1st round and two 2nd round picks. (Picks 15, 45, and 52 overall).

[RicochetII]

Sabres picked up Lehner and Legwand from Ottawa for pick #21 overall.

Toffoli re-signed for 2 years, $6.5M with LA.

Mike Reilly (not confirmed) to sign with Minnesota.

Preds re-sign Fisher for 2 years, $8.8M.

[RicochetII]

Bruins re-sign McQuaid for 4 years, $11M.

[BigTed3]

According to James Mirtle, Habs place PAP on waivers.

According to Elliotte Friedman, Habs and Hawks were discussing Kris Versteeg for a 5th round choice as the base of a trade that fell through. Friedman also stating that Habs and Galchenyuk are working on a bridge deal and that it's getting closer. I wouldn't be surprised to see Galchenyuk signed for something like two years, 3.25-3.5M per season...

[BigTed3]

The PAP waivers are for the purposes of buying out his contract. It will save the team 2.66M on the cap this year but add 1.33M to the cap for next year (basically a cap hit of 1.33M for each of the next two years instead of the 4M cap hit this year). Gives some room to sign Galchenyuk and still go after another player, BUT it really begs the question who is going to play right wing for us this season. Right now, you have Gallagher as your de facto #1 and then you're looking at Dale Weise and Devante Smith-Pelley. So either Bergevin has got someone else in mind as a free agent or trade target (Chris Stewart???) or else he really thinks a player like Scherbak is going to be ready to step in. Habs have depth down the middle but are really weak on the wing right now, and despite his salary, PAP was likely a step up on anyone else we currently have. Will be interesting to see what move this buyout leads into for Bergevin.

[Guest]

Pity we need to buy the guy out to get rid of him, but i'm not surprised in the least by this move. Never cared for his skill set or game in game out effort, for the money he was getting. Reminded me too much of RB.

Good riddance.

[Habberwacky]

Stafford is available but his last deal was at 4 mil and I am not sure if I would want to pay much more than that. Bringing in the kids up front could stop alot of the complaining about Therrien playing the veterans,.......or not.

[BigTed3]

Pity we need to buy the guy out to get rid of him, but i'm not surprised in the least by this move. Never cared for his skill set or game in game out effort, for the money he was getting. Reminded me too much of RB.

Good riddance.

It's still surprising to me. PAP is not a high-intensity guy, but he is still a point-producer on a team that doesn't score much. There's no denying he was used poorly by the coaches last year, much as Briere was misused and Sekac was misused and so on. These are players whereby if they're not spending half the year on the 4th line, they probably give you decent production. I'm going to ask this: are we more likely to find a top 6 RW by using the 2.6M in cap savings or were we more likely to get improved production out of the guy we had (PAP) by finding a coach who could employ his skillset more effectively. Personally, I think it's the latter.

I look at the UFA list, and maybe Justin Williams is a solution. I also wonder if MB has his eye on Martin St. Louis, who seemingly won't be going back to the Rangers and who fits Bergevin's goal of Francophone talent coming here. The thing is, MB better be 100% sure that Therrien will use a small skill player if he signs him, and it's certainly going to cost a lot more than 2.6M to get it done. We do know that the window to talk to UFA's opened a couple of days ago, so perhaps Bergevin knows something we don't. I'll give it until after July 1st to see if we can figure out his plan, but on first glance, I see this as a move whereby Therrien's misuse scoring talent has cost us another offensive player in favor of filling out our roster with more grinders. That's not a way to win.

[RicochetII]

It's still surprising to me. PAP is not a high-intensity guy, but he is still a point-producer on a team that doesn't score much. There's no denying he was used poorly by the coaches last year, much as Briere was misused and Sekac was misused and so on. These are players whereby if they're not spending half the year on the 4th line, they probably give you decent production. I'm going to ask this: are we more likely to find a top 6 RW by using the 2.6M in cap savings or were we more likely to get improved production out of the guy we had (PAP) by finding a coach who could employ his skillset more effectively. Personally, I think it's the latter.

I look at the UFA list, and maybe Justin Williams is a solution. I also wonder if MB has his eye on Martin St. Louis, who seemingly won't be going back to the Rangers and who fits Bergevin's goal of Francophone talent coming here. The thing is, MB better be 100% sure that Therrien will use a small skill player if he signs him, and it's certainly going to cost a lot more than 2.6M to get it done. We do know that the window to talk to UFA's opened a couple of days ago, so perhaps Bergevin knows something we don't. I'll give it until after July 1st to see if we can figure out his plan, but on first glance, I see this as a move whereby Therrien's misuse scoring talent has cost us another offensive player in favor of filling out our roster with more grinders. That's not a way to win.

Pretty much everything here, but I would probably lean more toward Frolik.

[jedimaas]

FWIW, Frolik has publicly said he's interested in playing for the habs:

Frolik would like to play for Montreal

The same article also mentions our interest in Belesky. Im not sure either would bring more skill than PAP but both are good defensively so it may be a better fit. Assuming we are not having any sort of coaching change (aside from maybe our PP/PK) I would think the one player on our roster who really doesnt fit the 'mold' MB has built is Desharnais. Time will tell but i wouldnt be surprised to see him moved. I am not a big supporter of bringing Versteeg or Sharp here but if the cost was Desharnais for example, Id be down with it, as I think it would improve us in several ways.

Right now as far as UFA go we seem to be most linked to:

- Belesky

- Williams

- Frolik

- St Louis

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens Wednesday.

[Hab-a-nice-day--33-_mtlc]

FWIW, Frolik has publicly said he's interested in playing for the habs:

Frolik would play for Montreal

The same article also mentions our interest in Belesky. Im not sure either would bring more skill than PAP but both are good defensively so it may be a better fit. Assuming we are not having any sort of coaching change (aside from maybe our PP/PK) I would think the one player on our roster who really doesnt fit the 'mold' MB has built is Desharnais. Time will tell but i wouldnt be surprised to see him moved. I am not a big supporter of bringing Versteeg or Sharp here but if the cost was Desharnais for example, Id be down with it, as I think it would improve us in several ways.

Right now as far as UFA go we seem to be most linked to:

- Belesky

- Williams

- Frolik

- St Louis

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens Wednesday.

I wonder if MB has any interest in Stewart or Ward too. I think he has already had two strikes with +30 year olds whom we were historically productive forwards (although PA did come from a trade) so is it save to say if he is going to actually overspend in the UFA market, it would be either Belesky, Frolik, or Stewart?

I would be surprised if he were to land anyone. I think he is looking elsewhere to possibly get a top six stud...

[truehabs]

If we are talking about UFA's then i think we should try to sign Antoine Vermette, he was very good in the Face-off circle against opponents with a 58.9% face-off win percentage. If we are talking about RFA's beside Galchenyuk, i would try for Vladimir Tarasenko

[RicochetII]

FWIW, Frolik has publicly said he's interested in playing for the habs:

Frolik would like to play for Montreal

The same article also mentions our interest in Belesky. Im not sure either would bring more skill than PAP but both are good defensively so it may be a better fit. Assuming we are not having any sort of coaching change (aside from maybe our PP/PK) I would think the one player on our roster who really doesnt fit the 'mold' MB has built is Desharnais. Time will tell but i wouldnt be surprised to see him moved. I am not a big supporter of bringing Versteeg or Sharp here but if the cost was Desharnais for example, Id be down with it, as I think it would improve us in several ways.

Right now as far as UFA go we seem to be most linked to:

- Belesky

- Williams

- Frolik

- St Louis

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens Wednesday.

Belesky makes sense, but I have concerns. An anomalous shooting percentage last season and only managing 10 assists, as well as what kind of contract is going to be thrown at him this season.I believe all but 4 of his points came at even strength, and he's only 27.

Frolik is similar in age but more rounded, and I don't think his contract will be as expensive or signing him is as much of a risk.

I'd take Williams as a stop-gap, but this is probably his last chance to get term on a contract. St Louis would definitely be a stop-gap, but is also more of a risk, depending on what he has left and how much he'll demand.

[jedimaas]

Belesky makes sense, but I have concerns. An anomalous shooting percentage last season and only managing 10 assists, as well as what kind of contract is going to be thrown at him this season.I believe all but 4 of his points came at even strength, and he's only 27.

Frolik is similar in age but more rounded, and I don't think his contract will be as expensive or signing him is as much of a risk.

I'd take Williams as a stop-gap, but this is probably his last chance to get term on a contract. St Louis would definitely be a stop-gap, but is also more of a risk, depending on what he has left and how much he'll demand.

Agree with all points.

The key to players like St Louis, Williams, Sharp etc will all be: what is our subtraction? In other words, to add anyone to our roster we are going to need to move/trade/buyout players. We've just bought out PAP so thats one spot but who do we move etc to make room for these guys. If we trade DD for Sharp, fine - we lose arguably our least effective centre and add a scoring winger. But if we traded Plekanec for Sharp im not happy at all. Similarly if we signed Frolik and then shipped Eller or similar off for picks or prospects, i wouldnt be very happy.

[NewfoundlandHab]

Why would we need to ship someone out for Frolik, Williams, etc?

I'm fairly certain that with the PAP buyout we could afford them.

I'd like Frolik if it's on a reasonable contract. Same goes for MSL and Williams. The problem is that there are very few reasonable contracts given out on July 1.

I really have no idea what to expect from the Habs when it comes to free agency.MB has said that he does not expect to be active on July 1st, but then he went and bought out PAP. Why buy him out with one year left on his deal if you're not planning on using the cap space. If there are no plans to replace him, then we might as well have kept him, had him as an option if we needed him and cut ties with him when his contract expires next year.

We had a big hole at RW with him. We;ve got an even bigger one without him. Hopefully MB;s got something up his sleeve.

[habsisme]

Why would we need to ship someone out for Frolik, Williams, etc?

I'm fairly certain that with the PAP buyout we could afford them.

I'd like Frolik if it's on a reasonable contract. Same goes for MSL and Williams. The problem is that there are very few reasonable contracts given out on July 1.

I really have no idea what to expect from the Habs when it comes to free agency.MB has said that he does not expect to be active on July 1st, but then he went and bought out PAP. Why buy him out with one year left on his deal if you're not planning on using the cap space. If there are no plans to replace him, then we might as well have kept him, had him as an option if we needed him and cut ties with him when his contract expires next year.

We had a big hole at RW with him. We;ve got an even bigger one without him. Hopefully MB;s got something up his sleeve.

Well we were in a bit of cap trouble to begin with. Maybe there's a long term deal for chucky? Maybe they were worried about someone trying to sign him? I just don't see any UFA helping us enough to overpay

[jedimaas]

FWIW, those questioning whether its a weak UFA class:

PAP, who we just bought out because no team was willing to take him on a trade, is ranked in the top 40 UFA for this season.

There are a handful of good options out there but after that its very slim pickings.

[kinot-1]

FWIW, those questioning whether its a weak UFA class:

PAP, who we just bought out because no team was willing to take him on a trade, is ranked in the top 40 UFA for this season.

There are a handful of good options out there but after that its very slim pickings.

Just shows ya how weak the UFA market is, if he's ranked in the top 40.

Joel Ward might be interesting at 3 mil. per. Decent numbers, plays the PK, 226#, plays in the paint.

[habs_93]

I'm a big fan of Joel Ward, but I don't think 3 Million a year will get him to sign here.

[kinot-1]

I'm a big fan of Joel Ward, but I don't think 3 Million a year will get him to sign here.

He'll be 35 in Dec. and, IMO, it seems all the teams rare going with more youthfull players. "If" we could get him, he might sign for 3 mil. for 2-3 years. I don't think he would want a 1 year deal.