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With the Stanley Cup final being all but over, the trade market heating up and the draft being so close, speculation is running rampant on social media. One name I’ve seen linked to the Habs a lot this weekend is Anthony Mantha’s. I’ve seen people arguing that the Canadiens should trade for him, I’ve even seen some suggesting that he should be used in a trade involving the Habs’ and Caps’ 1st round picks and Josh Anderson of all people. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve seen people argue that the Canadiens could take him on as a cap dump, like they did with Sean Monahan last off season.
First things first, I find it annoying that whenever a player has got Quebec on his birth certificate, there’s a good part of the fans who automatically think that the Canadiens should go out of their way to get them. Case in point, the “let’s get Mantha out of Washington campaign” and the “Dubois wants to play here let’s make it happen at any cost campaign”.
Whichever way you look at it, the Canadiens should not trade for Anthony Manta. The man’s got a $5.7 M cap hit and has been underperforming for years. Suggesting that he could be used in a trade involving Josh Anderson is a slap in the face. The big winger has a lower cap hit and he’s fitting in nicely in the Canadiens’ system or concepts as St-Louis would say. Last season, Anderson put up 32 points on the board in 69 games which is the exact same totals he had the year before 27 and 23 points in injury ridden seasons for the last two years. Furthermore, moving down in the draft from 5th to 8th would be a big gamble unless the Canadiens feel their player of choice has next to no chance of being drafted before the 8th pick. I find that hard to believe when the Canadiens are in the middle of a rebuild and are craving high talent players.
As for the possibility of taking on Mantha as a cap dumping favor for Washington, that seems unlikely to me. Firstly, the Canadiens have already got 12 forwards signed to 1 way contract for next season and that doesn’t take into account Raphael Harvey-Pinard who should definitely be signed to an extension. All through last season, people complained about the fact that there was no room for youth up front. From that standpoint, the idea should be a no-go.Furthermore, at the end of last season, both Hughes and Gorton were clear about the fact that expectations would be higher this coming year, they want their team to compete for a playoffs spot. Is it really a good context to take on a player who’s underperformed for 4 years? Do you really think that coming home to Quebec will instantly make Mantha a better player? I highly doubt it, whether we want to admit it, oftentimes underperforming Quebecers become the fans’ punching bags like Drouin was and like Desharnais also became at one point.
I had a discussion on Twitter yesterday in which a follower told me that having Quebecers on the team brought energy to the Habs, that it filled the Bell Centre with excitement. While there are examples to back up that theory, Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Guy Lafleur and Patrick Roy come to mind, they had something else going for them than just being from Québec. Each and every one of them were extremely talented players and clutch performers. Lafleur was a wizard on the ice, understandably, the excitement level in the building went through the roof when he was working his magic. The same can be said with Roy’s spectacular saves and near Superman antics in overtime in the playoffs. They became fan favorites because of their god given talent, not because they were born here.
In recent memory, the players who got people out of their seats were prime PK Subban when he would skate the puck from one end to the other, Carey Price when he carried the team on his back with insane saves and right now, it’s Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. There’s nothing like talent to light up the atmosphere.
While I’m at it, I’ve already said that I’d rather the Canadiens stay away from Pierre-Luc Dubois, but I’ve got to admit that yes, he’s got the talent that might make the crowd jump out of their seats and cheer on a local hero, but that doesn’t make him worth 9 million a year. His stats are similar to Nick Suzuki’s not to Johnny Gaudreau or Brayden Point, what message would it send the team to give him a king’s ransom when both the captain and the team’s best sniper are signed to team friendly contracts?
On top of that, Dubois has now requested a trade from 2 teams, and I’m weary of players who would do that, especially when they are still under team control but say that they won’t sign a one-year deal to play out that year. To have the privilege to play in the NHL, players have certain rules to respect, you sign a deal with the team that drafts you and then, the collective bargaining agreement states that you reach unrestricted free agency after a set number of years. That’s when you can decide where you want to go, not before. That’s the only way to ensure that there are players to play for every team, if it wasn’t like that, would there be legions of players volunteering to play for the likes of Winnipeg or Arizona?
For whatever reasons, Dubois has wanted out of both Columbus and Winnipeg, if the Canadiens sign him to an astronomical number and he doesn’t perform like people think he should, how is he going to react when both the fans and the media get on his case? Will he be willing to stick at it or will he once again ask to move on?
I’m not saying that the Canadiens must stay away from French-Canadian players at all costs, but the fact that a player was born here must not make us forget everything else about him. The way Kent Hughes has handled himself so far though, I’m confident that he’s taking everything into account and won’t forget the players’ past, I just wish fans could do the same.
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