What's Left for Gainey

For many habs fans out there, Arnott was the answer. However he signed in Nashville. It was also speculated that Gainey offered Elias a contract but Elias elected to stay in New Jersey.

Besides Shanahan there are no longer any major UFAs that could contribute to Montreal. So to improve the habs Gainey will have to make a trade. With the signing of Huet, Aebisher’s future in Montreal is now uncertain. Gainey will either make a trade now to move the swiss goalie or wait until the trade deadline when a team becomes desperate for a starting goalie. With detroit in need of a starting goalie, aebisher becomes a potential candidate. However I believe the Wings will want a more proven Number 1 goalie to hold the fort.

Ribeiro and Zednik both underperformed and could see their years of being habs put to an end. However Gainey is a very patient GM and will not dump them for nobody. With both of these players stocks low right now, it would not be suprising if Gainey decided to keep them under Carbanneau.

Koivu’s future still remains somewhat “blurry” so Montreal badly needs to adress the centre position. Look to see Gainey move aebisher, and/or Zednik/Ribeiro in exchange for a centre.