On the Montreal Canadiens …
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is eligible to sign a contract extension after July 1st. GM Marc Bergevin was asked if they could win with a goaltender taking up a big chunk of their cap space.
“I hope so, because isn’t going anywhere.”
Bergevin said multiple times that he’ll do whatever he can to get Price locked up after July 1st. Price had said earlier in the day that he wants to stay.
“I want to stay,” Price said. “I know we’re going to figure out a way to make all the pieces fit and bring a championship.”
Forward Alexander Radulov needs a new contract but Bergevin said he can’t hand out contracts that handicaps them from making other moves.
Defenseman Andrei Markov is hopeful that he’ll be back with the Canadiens next season.
“I’d like to stay for the rest of my life. We’ll see. We didn’t talk about any details+we didn’t talk about contract situation yet.”
The Canadiens biggest offsesaon need is obviously down the middle. Alex Galchenyuk started the season as the teams number one center but found himself as the a third line left winger at the end.
Bergevin on the offseason trade market.
“There’s 30 teams in the league, and in our view there’s not every single team who has a No. 1 centre. There’s teams who don’t have him, and the teams that do have him—they’re not going to give him away,” he said. “So we have to find a way to work around it. We have to be creative.”
The Canadiens could look to the KHL for offense this summer. They could look at Vadim Shipachyov again, and possibly Ilya Kovalchuk.
Bergevin also won’t rule out offer sheeting someone if it would help them out.
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: Defenseman Nathan Bealieu started the season on the top pair with Shea Weber, but found himself a healthy scratch for their final game of the season.
“Nathan Beaulieu is at a crossroads,” said Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin on Monday. “The clock is ticking.”
Some are wondering if his time with the Canadiens is over.
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 590 talking about the Montreal Canadiens and their need to find a centerman and more scoring.
“I don’t have a problem with him not trading Sergachev. I really don’t. I think one of the things that happens at the deadline is we don’t know the moves that aren’t made, right. What were his options. What were his opportunities. And you know what? I bet you that a lot of his options and opportunities were ones that if we heard them, we might not have done them ourselves. I don’t blame him for holding onto Sergachev. It is hard to find defensemen, particularly young ones, and who look like they have a chance to make a difference.
“But I think at the end of the day, you look at the roster and it’s not good enough to win and it’s not good enough to score. And the GM has to take the heat for that. He’s going to have to find a center. I’m not sure how he’s going to do it, but he’s going to have to find one.”