Montreal Canadiens
Jul 10, 2009, 3:15 PM EDT
PRESS RELEASE
MONTREAL – Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today the signing of forward Travis Moen to a three-year contract (2009-10 to 2011-12). As per Club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
« Travis Moen is a character player. He is versatile, and he plays hard. His size and style will contribute to adding physicality to our team », said Bob Gainey.
Last season, the 6-2, 215-pound left-winger took part in 82 regular-season contests with the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks. Moen registered 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists), 91 penalty minutes and 101 shots on goal while blocking 78 shots and delivering 171 hits. In five NHL seasons, the 27-year-old amassed 56 points (29 goals, 27 assists), served 487 penalty minutes and fired 402 shots on goal in 362 regular-season games, with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Anaheim Ducks, and the San Jose Sharks.
A native of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Moen was a member of the 2007 Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks, scoring 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 21 playoff games. In the 2009 playoffs, he led the San Jose Sharks in hits (16). Moen has appeared in 42 career playoff contests, scoring 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) and serving 36 penalty minutes.
Moen was selected in the fifth round by the Calgary Flames, 155th overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
A little "method" is starting to emerge from Gainey's "madness", I suppose. Canadiens certainly look like they should be a competitive team in the upcoming season. I still take great issue in how Gainey approached his reloading strategy however. Scott Gomez is extremely overpaid at his current salary and the team is stuck with that for the next four years. I doubt Bob would find anyone else as foolish as himself, when Sather dumped the contract on him.
That was the basis, (allegedly), for the signings of Brian Gionta (again seriously overpaid on a long term basis) and Mike Cammalleri (also not worth the contract he received, although it isn't quite as ridiculous as the other two).
If you start out with a faulty foundation, whatever you build on top of that is bound to collapse. Gionta may have had one big year playing alongside the then 25 or 26 year old Gomez, but the chances of a repeat are slim and none. With both his linemates over 30 years of age when the season is underway, and on the downside of their careers, will Cammalleri be able to duplicate his career season of a year ago? Not likely.
All indications are that the salary cap will stabilize or recede in the next couple of years. That means that the uncomfortable percentage of the total cap that these three players currently eat up could become downright unbearable in the near future.
The other fly in the ointment are the various draft picks and prospects that Gainey sacrificed to cover up his past mistakes. The team's top 2007 pick is gone (McDonagh), their top 2008 pick (Tanguay deal), they gave up 2 or 3 second rounders from this summer's draft, and they have only 4 picks remaining heading into the next draft.
It all smacks of desperation on the part of Gainey. He has to win and win now to salvage his legacy and credibility. Regardless of the long term cost to whoever inherits the mess he made. You can bet if he does have success next season, he will get out as quickly as he can so he doesn't have to pay off the mortgage.
Here's the thing – we all know that Gomez, Gionta and Cammalleri are overpaid.
Guess what? That's life in trying to lure UFAs to Montreal. We need to overpay in this city to compensate for the high taxes. That's the cold hard reality of the situation here.
And you're right – without the initial trigger of Gainey getting Gomez, none of the other free agents come here. Even Paul Mara credited Gomez' arrival as a reason for him coming here.
Yes, at some point in the next few years at least a couple of these contracts are going to come back to bite us. But what else would you have Gainey do? Seriously, what would you have done if you were Gainey – and be realistic.
Offering Cammalleri $3M per season doesn't get it done.
Travis Moen is a good player… the Pacific Division already knows how good he is. When you figure he's going to play on the 3rd or 4th line, this is a very good (and underrated signing).
I'm curious to see how much the cap hit will be for the 3 year contract though. But if the Habs make the playoffs, the fans will see he's worth every penny he makes.
As for Cammy/Gomez/Gionta… I think they're making a few more pennies than they're actually worth! ;-)
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