![]() ![]() Try finding another team that can say the same thing. That’s four of the NHL’s top 20 players in one lineup. ![]() And Victor Hedman is still on the blue line. And Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov are still on the top line. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was another bargain signing (two years for $2 million) and will take some of the Goodrow/Coleman minutes on the penalty kill, as well as being excellent on faceoffs.Īnd if it hurts your soul to say goodbye to so many popular players so quickly, just remember that Vasilevskiy is still in goal. Zach Bogosian is back on a team-friendly deal (three years at $850,000 per season) and is a pretty even swap for Savard. And the rowdiness of that third line with Gourde, Coleman and Goodrow will be difficult to replicate with so many young players.īut BriseBois has already hedged his bets with a couple of under-the-radar signings. Some of the new guys will inevitably turn out to be disappointments. That’s a lot of familiar faces, but not necessarily irreplaceable pieces. Even Luke Schenn has gone on to greater riches in Vancouver. ![]() And Yanni Gourde was claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft, Barclay Goodrow signed with the Rangers and Blake Coleman went to Calgary. So Savard is gone to Montreal as a free agent after a brief stay on the third defensive pairing. “Having that deep of a roster at both forward and on D, it wasn’t sustainable in a flat (salary) cap world, which is why we all really wanted to capitalize on the opportunity that was presented to us to win the Stanley Cup in 2021, and it’s why we pushed even more chips into the middle of the table to bring in David Savard.” “We had an abundance of riches that was not sustainable,” BriseBois said. The NHL’s salary cap finally accomplished what the Bruins, the Islanders, the Stars and the Canadiens were unable to do the past two seasons. And, of course, Tyler Johnson has been traded after nine years and too many happy moments to recount.Īnd while none of those moves were preferable, they were inevitable. A couple of useful defensemen have left, too. So what’s different? The entire third line is gone, and that’s a blow. We still have Andrei Vasilevskiy there as the best goaltender in the world helping us win games. “We’re not going to be the same team,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. It’s the subtle difference between a team that’s supposed to win, and a team that’s able to win. ![]()
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