Joined: May 2017
Posts: 248
Likes: 29
Although Montreal has struggled offensively it’s obvious the root of the problem starts on defense. Not only are they being skated around like pylons in their own zone, but they hurt the transition game into the offensive zone. This is because they can’t skate, move the puck, and make that all important breakout pass. It’s occurred to me that although moving guys like patioretty and Shaw could yield better picks and prospects it’s more vital that the backend be cleared out and rebuilt. However there’s only one problem: Now that Juulsen has been called up, likely for the season due to the Weber injury, the habs only have two NHL contracted D men in Laval (Lernout & Bourque). Bergevin should have no problem bringing up Lernout as he’s given him a vote of confidence in the past and he’s already suited up in games this season. Bourque on the other hand is on his first season in the pros and has struggled with the Rocket and is definitely. So essentially if Montreal is going to move two of their struggling defenceman they’ll be short a D in their system. Their options are really a) get a D back in a trade b) only trade one D away c) bring up Bourque anyway or d) sign gelinas to a pro contract and call him up. What should they do? What trade could get them a D man?