After adding 10 new prospects to his team, Marc Bergevin now has to think about the present and the very near future. Right now, the Canadiens' line-up looks like this with the players that are under contract for the next season:

Tomas Tatar- Philip Danault- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin - Max Domi - Andrew Shaw
Paul Byron - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Jordan Weal
Nicolas Deslauriers - Ryan Poehling - Dale Weise

extras: Mattew Peca, Nate Thompson

Victor Mete - Shea Weber
Brett Kulak - Jeff Petry
--------- - Noah Juulsen
7th D: Christian Folin

Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren

RFA: Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia, Charles Hudon, Mike Reilly
UFA: Jordie Benn

Needs

Considering that Marc Bergevin has already tried to re-sign Benn without success, there's an obvious whole on the left side of the defense. Xavier Ouellet and Gustav Olofsson are both LHD but Ouellet did show last year that he belongs in Laval and I doubt that Olofsson could fill that hole.

As for the attack there's also room for improvement. In an ideal world, the Canadiens wouldn't start the year with the likes of Deslauriers and Weise in the line-up and Jordan Weal would ideally be on the 4th line. It's well known, the Habs need help scoring so a scoring winger looks like a need right now

Extra baggage
Karl Alzner: I'm not that familiar with the inner workings of the salary cap but Alzner remains an obvious candidate for a buy out and Cap Friendly gives us the tool to establish how much that would cost:

what would it cost the Habs to buyout Karl Alzner? Thank God for @CapFriendly : #GoHabsGo #Buyout pic.twitter.com/daAU6HGzrz

— Karine Hains (@Pheebs888) June 24, 2019

As stated above, in an ideal world, the Canadiens do not start the year with Nicolas Deslauriers and Dale Weise in the line-up, but it might be quite hard to get someone to take them off our hands.

How to address those needs?

Bergevin has said it time and time again, he has to be responsible. Put bluntly that means he'd rather not spend too close to the cap in order to be able to resign the youngsters who will be owed a raise sooner rather than late. At the draft, he mentioned Kotkaniemi, Domi and Poehling but we must also remember that Gallagher has only got 2 seasons left at his bargain price. Keeping that in mind, would a big splash on the free agency market make any sense?

There are a few LHD "big names" in the UFA class this season: Dion Phaneuf, Andrew McDonald, Marc Methot and Jake Gardiner to name a few. Both Phaneuf and McDonald have both just been bought out and there's a reason for that. I whole heartedly hope that Bergevin will steer well clear. As for Methot, his best years are behind him and it seems rather obvious that Gardiner won't come cheap and since he's not yet old, he'll be wanting term as well. To me, the answer to the LHD conundrum is not on the free agent market but goes through the trade market.

If I'm Marc Bergeving, I'm probably looking at the Flyers to try and fix this problem. Shayne Gostisbehere is rumoured to be on the move and at 26 with a cap hit of 4.5 M for 4 years, his seems like a reasonable option. There has been a lot of talk about Kris Letang as well but the way I see it, Bergevin MUST stay away from him. Don't get me wrong, Letang was and is great but at 32 years old, he's still under contract for another 3 years at $7 250 000 and has had more than his fair share of injuries.

Up front, in my view, the Canadiens' GM must steer clear of guys like Corey Perry and Jason Spezza, they were once great players but those days are gone. There's also the like of Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene but considering the cap implications, i'd be rather surprised if Bergevin mafe a serious play for them. The sad reality is that they'll just be asking for the moon and plenty of suitors will be more than willing to give it to them. I'd personally really like Bergevin to target Gustav Nyquist who's 30 years old and who's cap hit last season was $ 4 750 000. Furthermore, he was Tatar's line mate in Detroit and should they be able to rekindle some of that magic, we could be in for a great season. A Tatar-Danault-Nyquist line would mean that Drouin-Domi-Gallagher coud become a line and perhaps the teams' two spark plugs could manage to inject a bit of energy in Jonathan Drouin's game.

Development Camp

It's now official, the development camp will take place at the Bell Sports Complex in Laval and the on ice training sessions will be public. This is a great way to get a first look at what the future has to offer for the Canadiens. They've released the official list of attendees earlier today and there are quite a few interesting names there.

68 ALAIN, Alexandre ! C D/R 03/03/97 - Québec, QC Joueur aut. / F. agent (24/04/18) Laval (AHL)
36 CAUFIELD, Cole AD / RW D/R 02/01/01 - Stevens Point, WI Rep. 2019 Draft (15) USNTDP (USDP)
71 EVANS, Jake ! C D/R 02/06/96 - Toronto, ON Rep. 2014 Draft (207) Laval (AHL)
75 FONSTAD, Cole C G/L 24/04/00 - Estevan, SK Rep. 2018 Draft (128) Prince Albert (WHL)
81 GORNIAK, Jack AG / LW G/L 15/09/99 - West Salem, WI Rep. 2018 Draft (123) Wisconsin (Big-10)
94 GUAY, Nicolas AD / RW D/R 18/06/99 - Sherbrooke, QC Invitation / Try-Out Drummondville (LHJMQ)
77 HARVEY-PINARD, Rafaël AG / LW G/L 06/01/99 - Jonquière, QC Rep. 2019 Draft (201) Rouyn-Noranda (LHJMQ)
49 HAWEL, Liam C D/R 18/04/99 - Arnprior, ON Invitation / Try-Out Guelph (OHL)
88 HILLIS, Cameron C D/R 24/06/00 - Oshawa, ON Rep. 2018 Draft (66) Guelph (OHL)
78 HOUDE, Samuel C G/L 06/03/00 - Saint-Eustache, QC Rep. 2018 Draft (133) Chicoutimi (LHJMQ)
45 MARLEAU, Vincent C D/R 05/07/99 - Châteauguay, QC Invitation / Try-Out Rouyn-Noranda (LHJMQ)
47 McSHANE, Allan C G/L 14/02/00 - Collingwood, ON Rep. 2018 Draft (97) Oshawa (OHL)
67 OKSENTYUK, Yevgeni AD / RW G/L 27/02/01 - Brest, BY Invitation / Try-Out Soligorsk (Belarus)
51 OLOFSSON, Jacob C G/L 08/02/00 - Arvidsjaur, SE Rep. 2018 Draft (56) Timrå (SHL)
Suède (WJC)
55 PEZZETTA, Michael ! AG / LW G/L 13/03/98 - Toronto, ON Rep. 2016 Draft (160) Laval (AHL)
Maine (ECHL)
48 PITLICK, Rhett AG / LW G/L 07/02/01 - Chaska, MN Rep. 2019 Draft (131) Chaska High (USHS-MN)
Omaha (USHL)
25 POEHLING, Ryan ! C G/L 03/01/99 - Lakeville, MN Rep. 2017 Draft (25) Canadiens (NHL)
St. Cloud (NCHC)
États-Unis (WJC)
86 STAPLEY, Brett C D/R 23/02/99 - Campbell River, BC Rep. 2018 Draft (190) Univ. of Denver (NCHC)
89 STRUTHERS, Matthew C G/L 26/12/99 - Milton, ON Invitation / Try-Out Laval (AHL)
North Bay (OHL)
14 SUZUKI, Nick ! C D/R 10/08/99 - London, ON Transaction - VGK (10/09/18) Owen Sound (OHL)
Guelph (OHL)
Canada (WJC)
38 TEASDALE, Joel ! AG / LW G/L 11/03/99 - Repentigny, QC Joueur aut. / F. agent (21/09/18) Blainville-Boisbriand (LHJMQ)
Rouyn-Noranda (LHJMQ)
96 VERBEEK, Hayden ! C G/L 17/10/97 - Kingston, ON Joueur aut. / F. agent (24/03/18) Laval (AHL)
Maine (ECHL)
56 YLÖNEN, Jesse AD / RW D/R 03/10/99 - Scottsdale, AZ Rep. 2018 Draft (35) Pelicans (Liiga)
Finlande (WJC)
46 BROOK, Josh ! D D/R 17/06/99 - Yorktown, SK Rep. 2017 Draft (56) Moose Jaw (WHL)
Laval (AHL)
Canada (WJC)
59 FAIRBROTHER, Gianni D G/L 30/09/00 - North Vancouver, BC Rep. 2019 Draft (77) Everett (WHL)
83 FLEURY, Cale ! D D/R 19/11/98 - Regina, SK Rep. 2017 Draft (87) Laval (AHL)
82 HARRIS, Jordan D G/L 07/07/00 - Haverhill, MA Rep. 2018 Draft (71) Northeastern (Hockey East)
72 LEGUERRIER, Jacob D G/L 22/11/00 - Gloucester, ON Rep. 2019 Draft (126) Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
44 LESKINEN, Otto ! D G/L 06/02/97 - Pieksämäki, FI Joueur aut. / F. agent (07/05/19) KalPa (Liiga)
64 MERISIER-ORTIZ, Christopher D G/L 17/01/01 - Boisbriand, QC Invitation / Try-Out Baie-Comeau (LHJMQ)
91 PLOUFFE, Dylan D G/L 27/04/99 - Sherwood Park, AB Invitation / Try-Out Vancouver (WHL)
73 RUSCHEINSKI, Kieran D G/L 05/03/01 - Calgary, AB Rep. 2019 Draft (206) Calgary (AMHL)
Spruce Grove (AJHL)
74 STRUBLE, Jayden D G/L 09/08/01 - Cumberland, RI Rep. 2019 Draft (46) St. Sebastian's (USHS-Prep)
79 YORK, Jack D D/R 17/01/00 - Ottawa, ON Invitation / Try-Out Barrie (OHL)
Kitchener (OHL)

80 DICHOW, Frederik G/L 01/03/01 - Vojens, DK Rep. 2019 Draft (138) SønderjyskE (Denmark)
37 LACOUVEE, Connor G/L 24/05/94 - Qualicum Beach, BC Joueur aut. AHL F. agent (07/02/19) Laval (AHL)
Utica (AHL)
Maine (ECHL)
95 MOLLOT-HILL, Gabriel G/L 12/08/97 - Ottawa, ON Invitation / Try-Out Providence (Hockey East)
30 PRIMEAU, Cayden ! G/L 11/08/99 - Voorhees, NJ Rep. 2017 Draft (199) Northeastern (Hockey East)
États-Unis (WJC)
35 PURPURA, Vincent D/R 29/10/98 - Lemont, IL Invitation / Try-Out Omaha (USHL)
Youngstown (USHL)
Boston U. (Hockey East)
98 SHANK, Alexis G/L 10/02/00 - Laval, QC Invitation / Try-Out Chicoutimi (LHJMQ)

If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to attend on Wednesday and have some fresh news to report on Thursday!

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