Canadiens Seeing Bergevin’s Offseason Plans Come Together

A week before the 2020 NHL Draft, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin went on a media tour and stated in several interviews that he was prepared to improve his roster and spend to the salary cap. He also said he was more likely to give up his first-round draft pick than in previous years; he wasn’t going to spend high on a free agent (FA), and if he was going to get a top-scoring winger, he would have to trade for one.

This offseason, he got the players he wanted and signed them to fairly good contracts. Anderson became the highest-paid forward on the team at $5.5 million annual average value (AAV) for seven seasons; this will have him signed until he is 33. Toffoli signed a much more team-friendly deal at $4.25 million AAV for four seasons. Bergevin also added Joel Edmundson, signed for $3.5 million, and Jake Allen, who is making $4.35 million. It wasn’t that Bergevin didn’t want to spend; he just wanted to spend on the right players.

Did Bergevin actually Make Good?

Before the end of the playoffs, there were hints that Bergevin was going to fill the holes needed to make the Habs contenders. He acquired Allen to back up Carey Price; he acquired Edmundson’s rights and signed him to a reasonable contract to help solidify the defence. He drafted big forwards and big speedy defencemen and signed two scoring wingers that make the forward group bigger.

He said before the draft that he wanted his forwards to get bigger; he did that. He wanted to add scoring; he did that. He wanted the team to start competing now; on paper, he did that. You could argue that he didn’t add the puck-moving, left-handed defencemen, but simply changed the defence’s dynamics to make them tougher to play against … or maybe he did add that elusive left-handed player with Alexander Romanov? Any way you look at it, Bergevin certainly achieved what he set out to do and made good on his offseason plans.