Mayhem in Montreal

It has been about 2 days since Chris Fekete has been named Canadiens GM but he isnt waiting to get the ball rolling. After Montreal lost 3-1 to Colorado yesterday, Chris was working the phones and trying to make deals to improve his team quickly. He feels like this is a solid team and has a very good shot at going deep into the playoffs. It's just a matter of when they'll snap out of this slump. They have lost their last 3 games and have only scored a combined total of 4 goals. That isnt going to cut it, especially with the Habs fans who expect winners and want nothing but 100% every single gameday.

Anyways, the first trade was a minor deal with Todd of the Chicago Blackhawks who see prospect Ryan Martindale go to Chicago and in return, Montreal receives prospect Evan Brophey. Chris felt that Evan Brophey can bring more to the table and has a better shot at making the team sooner than Martindale.

Later on, another deal was struck, this time with Tom, the Avalanche GM. Chris dealt Jannik Hansen to Colorado and in return, acquired hard nosed power forward Maxime Talbot. This was a hard move to make for Chris as he felt Hansen has the opportunities to play well for the Canucks but Chris couldnt wait on Hansen to see if he would pan out and knew from past games and his hockey knowledge that Talbot can help out now and has a better chance to play a more well rounded game than Hansen.

3.5 hours later, Montreal made another move with division rival, the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo, who is off to a poor start like the Canadiens, wanted to get younger and cheaper. Montreal being approximately 20 mill under the salary cap, couldnt pass up this offer. Gilbert Brule was sent to Buffalo and in return, Montreal received Erik Cole. Cole is a definite candidate to play a top 6 role for the Habs. Brule is younger and cheaper salary by about 2 mill give or take but in the long run, Brule wont pan out for the Oilers in the NHL and with all that young talent, he'll be lost in the shuffle. In the meantime, Cole logs a lot of minutes in Carolina and in the short term and long term assessments, Cole will be the better option. Montreal just couldnt pass on this deal. Definitely a great asset to acquire, especially from a division rival.

Then to top it all off, Montreal made their final deal with another Western Conference team: the Calgary Flames. Calgary, looking to acquire draft picks to build for the future phoned Chris and were talking about a deal to get something done. In the end, Montreal traded away their own 2nd rounder, Boston's 5th and their own 5th round selections and in return, Calgary gave Montreal 1.5 million. Definitely a good trade for Calgary. They needed the prospects and Montreal gets more cash added to their funds which is nothing wrong with that.

In the end, Montreal made some very strong moves to try and get their offence going. This team is definitely going to move up in the standings, the only question is, when?

Below is the projected lineup for your Montreal Canadiens. Their next game is on Sunday against the San Jose Sharks.

Projected Lineup

Penner - Getzlaf - Oshie

Cole - Hanzal - Peverley

Fehr - Conroy - Talbot

Donovan - Marchant - Bissonnette