By J.D. Lagrange, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

Marc Bergevin wants to change the culture of his team and so far, he has done just that… to a certain extent. Recognizing that the Canadiens were often an easy prey to bigger teams, he has continually tried to address the toughness issue and has brought in players who are known as being good teammates on and off the ice.

PENTICTON, BC. — The Habs’ GM will be the first one, however, to recognize that more needs to be done in order to bring this team to the next level and that is not something that can be done overnight, especially not in a year when the salary cap went down and most teams are tight against the cap ceiling. And that’s where Bergevin might have an advantage over Stanley Cup contenders.

By signing guys like Daniel Brière, Douglas Murray, Francis Bouillon to contracts of two years or less, and by trading for George Parros who had one year left to his contract, he brought in some stop-gap help giving him and his prospects time to evaluate and develop, and for the cap to go back up which will give the team some more flexibility. Knowing that Brian Gionta and Andrei Markov are also scheduled to become UFAs at the end of this season, freeing up almost $11 million adds to his flexibility as only P.K. Subban is due for a substantial raise among those becoming RFAs (Editor’s note: Lars Eller will also receive a significant hike.)

In the meantime, in Colorado, the team has also gone through some substantial management and coaching changes with Joe Sakic taking over the reins and Patrick Roy taking on a big role. Those two are great hockey people and they know what it takes to win. They also understand their teams’ depth and weaknesses. The Avalanche finds itself in the midst of a tight playoffs race and it is important for the ownership and the new management to make the playoffs in order to bring back the excitement in Mile-High City.

The Avalanche is deep, very deep at center. Matt Duchene is back in great form under Roy and he’s producing at almost a point per game this season. First overall pick from this past June Draft, Nathan MacKinnon, is showing why Colorado picked him ahead of Seth Jones and is already making an impact with 44 points as a rookie in this league. Ryan O’Reilly is a natural center who has been forced to play the wing due to the Avalanche’s depth at that position and the team will need over $6 million to qualify him as a RFA at season’s end. John Mitchell is doing a good job on the fourth line and they have Malone, Hishon and Sgarbossa pushing for a job with the big club within the next couple of years, possibly as early as next year.

It is however the consensus that Colorado’s biggest weakness is on defense and that’s where the Habs come into play. PK Subban has taken over the number one spot as top dog at the Habs’ blue line and while the team is negotiating with Andrei Markov, some reports are that he’s looking for more than what Bergevin is willing to gamble on the 35 year old defenseman. Markov is having an excellent season, playing over 25 minutes per game in all situations, while racking up 31 points so far this season and there is no doubt that he would help the Avalanche at that position.

The Avalanche also announced that winger Alex Tanguay will be out for the season after undergoing hip surgery and the team might be tempted in replacing him for their playoffs’ run.

The Avalanche and the Canadiens seem to be naturals for completing a trade that would help both teams, both trading from a position of strength to address their weaknesses. While acquiring Paul Stastny would add to a bit of a log-jam at center for the Habs, it would give Marc Bergevin some flexibility to trade one of them to get a Top-4 right handed defenseman to play behind Subban, making the Stastny acquisition the first of two moves. That second move can be completed before the deadline of this summer.

Here is how I would perceive the key players to be involved in the trade:

To Colorado

• Andrei Markov (help on defense)
• Rene Bourque (replacing Tanguay)
• George Parros (temporary replacement for Bordeleau)

To Montreal

• Paul Stastny (help on faceoffs, son of Peter who loved playing in Quebec)
• Patrick Bordeleau (young local enforcer under contract)

Add something here or there to even it out, but those would be, in my opinion, the key pieces involved in the deal.

Does that make Colorado better? While losing Stastny would be significant, the team would gain on defense, including offense produced from the back end, and they would be getting some replacement for the loss of Tanguay’s top-9 production.

Does it make Montreal better? One of the Habs’ weaknesses is in the faceoffs’ dot and Stastny wins over 54 percent of his draws, which would place him first on the team, ahead of Lars Eller who would be second at 52 percent. The goal obviously would be to re-sign Stastny before he hits the free agency market. The 27 year old Bordeleau is from Montreal and he stands at 6’6” and 225 pounds. He can also play some hockey as shown by his four goals and seven points, and his plus–2 rating. Trading Markov gives rookie Nathan Beaulieu his spot with the big club for the rest of the season and makes room for Davis Drewiske to return to the line-up.

Too many centers

The Habs would find themselves with Tomas Plekanec, Paul Stastny, David Desharnais, Lars Eller and Ryan White at center, not counting Daniel Brière and Alex Galchenyuk who are natural centers already playing the wing. It would also leave the Canadiens with only one right handed defenseman, forcing two of them to play on the wrong side. Some downplay the situation but looking at how much importance Team Canada has put into playing defensemen on their own side, to the point of sitting Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban, clearly shows that it’s not something to be taken lightly.

If Bergevin wants to change the culture of the team and address the lack of right handed shots on his blue line, he’ll have to sacrifice a good center in order to get a top-4 defenseman. He will have to put the names of Lars Eller, David Desharnais and even Tomas Plekanec out there and see what teams will offer for any of them and that’s when it becomes interesting.

Would the New Jersey Devils be tempted to part with Adam Larsson?
Could the Washington Capitals be convinced in parting ways with John Carlson?
Would the rebuilding Calgary Flames keep salary and trade Dennis Wideman?
What would the Flyers want in return for Luke Schenn?
Perhaps the St-Louis Blues would sacrifice Roman Polak for some depth at center?
There are rumours out of New York saying that the Rangers might trade Dan Girardi?
Would LA Kings’ Matt Greene be available pending his health?
How much would it cost for the Florida Panthers to trade Erik Gudbranson?

I’m not saying that all of the players mentioned above would be available, far from there, but I’m thinking that a team with Stastny and one of them, even without a Eller, Desharnais or Plekanec, and without Markov, might just be a better team as it would create more balance throughout the line-up.

One thing is for sure is that Marc Bergevin is and will be working the phone up until the March 5th trade deadline and it will be interesting to see what rabbit (if any) he can pull out of his hat. I can’t wait for him to pull the trigger on a trade that will finally help him put his stamp on the team, aside from the great work he’s doing at drafting and developing the prospect pool.

Go Habs Go!

En français: Est-ce que Paul Stastny à Montréal fait du sens?