The Montreal Canadiens have made their first significant
re-signing of the off-season.
CKAC radio in Montreal reported Friday the Canadiens have
re-signed center Maxim Lapierre to a two-year contract extension paying him $575K for next season and $800K for 2009-10.
Lapierre, 23, has spent parts of the last two seasons split
between the Canadiens and their farm team in Hamilton.
Considered to be a pesky checking line center, he appears to
have earned a full-time spot with the Canadiens next season after playing in
each of their 12 post-season games this season, primarily in a checking role.
Lapierre earned $562K last season and it’s likely his new
salary will be below $1 million per season.
It’s a good, affordable signing by the Canadiens, as
Lapierre has the potential to grow into a good checking line forward and
penalty killer.
With Lapierre’s contract out of the way, management can now
focus its attention on RFAs Andrei Kostitsyn, Jaroslav Halak and Josh Gorges,
and UFAs Mark Streit, Bryan Smolinski and Michael Ryder.
It took awhile, but the signing was on Canadiens team site today. All I can say is "one down, more to follow". I was worried that Bob would wait until after the draft to get going on these. As Lyle pointed out, getting AK46, Josh Gorges and Jaro Halak as RFA's and Mark Streit signed are paramount. I'm really interested to see what the team will do in July and how it would effect extensions for Komisarek and Higgins.
well that was great scoop by CKAC radio...it was them right. Anyway I agree with you about AK46 and halak. The others however i'm not so sure about...didn't we want to get bigger on D?? Josh and Mark are both small along with Francis and Dandy that still makes us weak defensively. I've noticed we are mentioned as a possible destination for all the major UFA's lol. Should be a fun summer!
gohabsgo!
Last edited by groovy_Aardvark on June 10th at 1:17 PM.
good signing for a fine depth player. i would wager that Gainey will use this summer to put a dent in the big number of contracts expiring the end of the 08-09 season. Komisarek, Plekanec, Latendresse and Higgins may be offered contract extensions in the coming weeks or months. With the price of talent only rising, it makes sense to secure the franchise core.
I think the team did real well when Josh and Frankie B gave them a nice pairing (down the stretch). Gorges starting getting more icetime and he took advantage of it. O'Byrne is the other RFA to sign, he's your big D-man. I think of Streit and Dandy as forwards, with Streit taking the PP point position. Plus, if you lose a D-man to injury or penalty during the game, he can slide back and cover nicely. Not so sure Dandy makes the roster next year, interesting summer in a big way! Those UFA signings that people want take money away from signing Komi, Higgins and Plek longer term. Would I want to let Komisarek reach next July without an extension? - NO!
Although I agree with what you've said and in no way am I saying I don't like Josh and Frank. You mentioned yourself the money thing, Do I sign Josh when I could bring in valentenko or carle at a much lower cost? I thought they did great but still felt when we faced the big teams they got abused. Streit does not want to play forward and i'm convinced he's looking for assurances from us that he won't should he re-sign. The youth movement has served us well...why stop now. Again you're right we need to lock up those quality players and keep our core intact. In the last 2yrs i've really enjoyed habs hockey again and I look everyday through the sports pages for what we'll do next!!
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
