Free agency will be less of an issue in 2010

Criticized by many for not making the big off-season signing for the past several off-seasons, Bob Gainey may have silenced his critics this summer.

Going into the July 1 free agent deadline, Canadiens’ GM Bob Gainey had ten unrestricted free agents to deal with.

What did he do?

He blew up the team, essentially cleaning house of the supposed “cliques” and locker room problems that burdened the 2008-09 edition of the Canadiens.

Although he did offer contracts to notables such as Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Mike Komisarek, those players elected to seek other pastures.

Gainey had been scrutinized in the past for allowing key free agents to walk away (Sheldon Souray in 2007 and Mark Streit in 2008), but this off season he made sure the gaps were filled.

And what a job he did, landing Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez with contracts that will keep them, barring trades, in  the bleu-blanc et rouge until the 2013-14 season is over.

Jaroslav Spacek, Travis Moen, Hal Gill and Paul Mara were then picked up on the cheap for three,three, two and one-year deals respectively.

He then re-signed restricted free agents Kyle Chipchura, Tomas Plekanec and Guillaume Latendresse for one-year terms.

Curtis Sanford was grabbed to be the bridge goaltender between Hamilton and Montreal.

Based on data from  nhlnumbers.com that leaves $3.2 million and change left over that will likely go to resigning Matt D’Agostini and Gregory Stewart.

Prospect P.K. Subban is signed to a 3-year entry level deal, but it has yet to reflect on the cap.

So what was a panic situation by many, on June 30 at 11:59 pm, now appears to be a well balanced group of players with a new head coach in Jacques Martin and a revamped coaching staff (with the exception of assistant coach Kirk Muller) at both the NHL and AHL level.

What’s good for Gainey is that at the end of the 2009-10 season, he will have 16 signed players in the organization, seven restricted free agents (all of whom are making less that $1 million this season) and five unrestricted free agents.

The principle free agent next season will be goaltender Carey Price.

Pending his performance, we can expect “The Franchise” to sign to a long term extension sometime this season.

In all likelihood, Jaroslav Halak could be moved at the trade deadline. The kid is too talented to remain a backup, unless he and Price go the Hayward/Roy route for another two or three seasons.

With long term signings in place, and a good crop of young players signed and in place, it’s safe to say that come June 30 2010, Canadiens fans will be chewing their nails a lot less than this year .

Not to mention that we won’t be worrying about a #1 or #2 d-man walking away next summer.

Habs Rookie D'Agostini Reflects

By Peter Ruicci, The Sault Star

April 27, 2009

By the end, the sea of enthusiasm with which Matt D'Agostini began the NHL season had been drained to a puddle.

After a blistering start, the Sault Ste. Marie native endured the many questions that follow scoring droughts of 10 and 19 games.

And his Montreal Canadiens' once-promising season ended abruptly, with the Habs losing their first-round playoff series to the Boston Bruins in four straight games.

As an NHL rookie, he learned what it was like to skate in front of an unforgiving audience, in an intense media market, in the most demanding hockey league in the world.

Yet D'Agostini, a six-foot, 200- pound right-winger, can't wait to do it all over again.

"I wouldn't have traded this for anything," the 22-year-old said. "It was like a dream come true, a fun time, a great experience."

It most certainly was in the early days.

After being called up in late November from the American Hockey League's Hamilton Bulldogs, D'Agostini quickly endeared himself to Canadiens fans by netting four goals in his first five games.

He also registered six goals and a pair of assists in just 11 starts.

"It was weird. I was scoring a goal every other game and I thought I'd have a great year," D'Agostini said. "I wasn't used to all of that media attention and it was kind of cool. It was surreal. But then I went through some ups and downs. I slumped a bit, but I guess I knew that pace would be hard to keep up."

Still, he persevered through the droughts and managed to register his only two-goal game of the season on April 9.

That night, in their second-to-last game of the regular season, the Canadiens lost to Boston 5-4 in overtime.

Unfortunately, it became an omen for what was to come in the post-season.

D'Agostini said he "tried to stay as mentally sharp as possible" during the times he was struggling.

He admitted how hard it was to live up to the expectations created by his rocket start.

And scorers always want to score more.

Still, by any measuring stick, 12 goals and 9 assists over 53 games, in a league where scoring is still at a premium, qualifies as a successful rookie season.

"I had some good things going on. It was a pretty good year to get into the mix," he said. "I got comfortable with everything."

A sixth-round pick of the Canadiens in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, D'Agostini learned one very valuable lesson.

He always knew it was important, but quickly realized self-assurance at the big league level is crucial.

"It's all about playing with confidence," said D'Agostini, who got into one NHL game a year ago and had 14 goals and 11 assists in 20 AHL games at the time of his call-up. "When you're confident, you're not afraid to take risks. When you're not, you're afraid to make plays and you start panicking with the puck."

While injuries -- defence-men Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider and forwards Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang were all nicked up -- certainly played a role in the Habs loss to the Bruins, D'Agostini thought he and his teammates were still capable of advancing.

A power-play goal by Boston defenceman Zdeno Chara, snapping a 2-2 tie midway through the first period of Game 1, was the turning point, D'Agostini said.

It led to the Bruins winning the opener, 4-2.

"That was the difference-maker. If we had made it 3-2 and won the opener, it could have been a lot different series," he said. "We had a great squad with game-changers. If we got hot and gained some confidence, we could have turned that series around."

The sweep led to Montreal fans expressing their d i s a p p o i nt - ment over the club's early exit.

They jeered goalie Carey Price and general manager Bob Gainey, who took over as interim head coach after firing Guy Carbonneau.

"They're really passionate and they're the best fans in the world when you're winning," D'Agostini said. "But they expect nothing less."

With his three-year, entry level contract up, D'Agostini is about to become an restricted free agent.

But he wants to remain with the Canadiens and has no reason to think he won't return.

"For sure, I'd love to be back and take on a bigger role next season," D'Agostini said. "I've just been soaking it all in and this is where I want to play."