On the Montreal Canadiens …
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: Marc Bergevin will be given another chance to run the Canadiens and will once again be looking for No. 1 center. Bergevin thought he drafted one in 2012 with Alex Galchuenyuk and thought he got one last year when he traded for Jonathan Drouin.
Ideally, they could draft one with their first-round pick this year and not have to give up money in free agency or assets in the trade.
The Canadiens will have over $20 million in cap space and could look at some centers in free agency.
They will make John Tavares an offer if he hits free agency. Paul Stastny is a serviceable No. 2 defenseman. Lesser options include Riley Nash, Tyler Bozak, Joe Thornton and Derek Ryan. In the lesser pile are Tomas Plekanec, Valtteri Filppula and Kyle Brodziak.
If going the trade route to find a top-line center it could cost them Noah Juulsen, Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk or some of their 2018 or 2019 draft picks. Their no-move group could include Carey Price, Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin, Victor Mete and Ryan Poehling.
Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly has five years left on his deal at $7.5 million per.
If the Washington Capitals look to break things up, the Canadiens could look at Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom carries a $6.7 million cap hit through 2020. Hard to see the Capitals looking to move Backstrom, but if the Canadiens offered up their 2018 first-round pick?
If the Oilers are looking to move Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, then the Canadiens could be the ideal trade partner. The Canadiens may prefer Leon Draisaitl.
Looking at the unlikely restricted free agent offer sheet route for a center – Tomas Hertl (SJ), J.T. Miller (TB), Elias Lindholm (CAR), Max Domi (ARI), William Karlsson (VGK), Dylan Larkin (DET) and William Nylander (TOR).