By Joce, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

“I am very excited at the opportunity to join the Montreal Canadiens. It’s an organisation I looked up to throughout my youth and I really look forward to putting on the Habs jersey and contribute to the success of the team.” ~ Daniel Brière

PENTICTON, BC. — When the announcement was made official on July 4th, many fans of the Montreal Canadiens were surprised at the news. Back in the summer of 2007, two teams were reported as having made similar contract offers to the Gatineau native and fans felt like Daniel Brière turned his back on his home province by choosing the Flyers over the Habs. Since then, he has been a prime target for fans when the Flyers were visiting the Bell Centre, to the point where Brière wouldn’t bring his mother to the games in Montreal for a while.

When the Flyers chose to buy out his contract this summer, the Canadiens were on top of his list and it didn’t take long for him to sign his name at the bottom of a two-year contract. His previous contract with the Flyers had a $6.5 million cap hit, but Brière was scheduled to be making $3M in 2013-14 and $2M in 2014-15. The Canadiens will pay him $4M per season for those two years, while he will also get 2/3 of the money he’s owed by the Flyers with the buyout. Not bad.

What some of the fan base don’t like about the deal is that in spite of Marc Bergevin stating publicly that the team needs to get bigger, the Habs’ GM signed a player who is generously listed at 5’10” and 179 pounds. What those fans might be forgetting however, is that Bergevin also said in the same breath that there are 29 other teams chasing after those big talented players and that the best way to get them is to draft and develop their own. Looking at the draft, his first two choices were Michael McCarron (6’5” 228 lbs) and Jacob de la Rose (6’2” 190 lbs), and he later selected Connor Crisp (6’3” 225 lbs). One would be hard-pressed to say that he’s not living to his words.

Also, when Bergevin traded with Florida to acquire George Parros, he did address a huge need on this team as last season proved obvious that teams like Toronto and Boston were targeting Brandon Prust. Oh Prust can defend himself but he was the only one as it seemed like Travis Moen had decided that he had become a hockey player and would drop the gloves only when he was forced to do so. Prust was extremely excited when the news of the trade came out, as his Twitter feed can attest… and rightfully so.

It’s been well reported that Bergevin tried to get Vincent Lecavalier but balked at the terms offered by the Flyers, who ended up signing the big centerman for $4.5M per season until 2017-18. Bergevin also had interest in David Clarkson but the seven-year contract and $5.25M cap hit offered by Leafs was way too rich for his liking, and so was the Devils’ five-year $4.85M offer to Ryane Clowe. The fact that Bergevin backed out of those contracts proves that he has a plan and that he will stick with it, and fans should be thrilled about that and not search for fleas where there are none.

With Michael Ryder gone, Bergevin felt the need to add some scoring depth on right-wing and Brière was the best option available on the market. Seeing how much the Senators gave up to get Bobby Ryan, it is easy to see why he went with a player who is a very low risk, high reward player. Brière will want to do well in Montreal and will also want to bounce back from a relatively poor season last year. The fact that he’s only signed for two years at $4M per season is low risk and with Brian Gionta, he will be a great mentor to a guy like Brendan Gallagher and other young guns in the organisation. Let’s face it, there are no right wingers in the system who are ready to contribute at the level Briere can so his signing is a stop gap until others are ready to step up. As Michel Therrien uses three offensive lines, having Gionta, Briere and Gallagher patrolling the right wing, all players with great speed, desire and scoring ability, will add a good dimension to the team’s offense, especially if Briere has a good season.

Last but not least, there are several teams finding themselves well above the permitted salary cap and they will have to make moves to get below it very soon. That just might be what Marc Bergevin is waiting for, although he would have to move some salary himself if need be. Or he might be happy to start the season with the current roster, which finished second in the Eastern Conference last year and first in the division, ahead of the Bruins.

I admit being sceptical about the signing and I was one of the fans unhappy about the news when it came out. My original fear was that this could become a Donald Audette situation all over. But fans need to recognise that Bergevin and his team are not making moves without thinking them out thoroughly first and this one is no different. Bergevin deserves respect and fans need to take a deep breath and give time to Brière to show what he can do, and perhaps we’ll all have to admit that it wasn’t that bad of a deal.

In the meantime, let’s take a deep breath, enjoy the rest of summer and be patient. This team is heading in the right direction and that’s exciting. Go Habs Go!

En français: Brière mérite sa chance