Montreal Canadiens Should Regret Not Re-Signing Alex Radulov
The struggling Montreal Canadiens should regret not doing more over the summer to re-sign the team’s second-leading scorer from last season.
Alexander Radulov was allowed to walk from the Montreal Canadiens to the Dallas Stars in July after scoring 54 points in Montreal in 2016-17. The Stars gave Radulov a five-year contract worth $31.25 million, in what’s turning out to be one of the league’s best offseason acquisitions.
It was a puzzling move from Montreal given how poorly the team struggles to produce offense. To make matters worse, Radulov stated he wanted to stay with the Habs, after playing the Canadiens for the first time this season where he recorded an assist in a 4-1 Dallas victory.
Radulov has thrived with the Stars, scoring 20 points in 21 games this season. He’d currently be Montreal’s top scorer as he’s recorded six more points than Brendan Gallagher, who leads the Canadiens with 14 points in 22 games.
Last season Radulov was often an offensive sparkplug for Montreal, capable of taking over games all on his own. The Russian winger was playing his first season in the NHL in over four years after returning from the KHL. When he first arrived some doubted if he’d be a good fit in the city but he quickly put those doubts to rest by showcasing his electrifying talent.
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It seemed like a no-brainer that the team would bring Radulov back after only trailing captain Max Pacioretty in points last year. However, once the team acquired Jonathan Drouin and signed him to a long-term contract, it appeared as if the Canadiens were content on using Drouin as Radulov’s replacement.
Drouin is nine years younger than Radulov so committing long term to the younger player made some sense. Only Montreal then chose to use cap space that could have easily gone to Radulov to sign defenseman Karl Alzner to a five-year contract with a cap hit of $4.625 million per season. A deal they’ll soon be regretting if they aren’t already.
The Canadiens also roughly have $6 million in cap space as it is, meaning Radulov’s $6.25 million cap hit could have easily fit under Montreal’s salary cap if the team chose to pay Radulov instead of Alzner. After all, Montreal needed scoring and not another second-pairing defenseman about to enter his 30s.
Montreal currently sits second-last in the league with an average of only 2.32 goals-per-game. Last season with Radulov the team ranked 15th overall in goals-per-game. Radulov has also helped put the Stars into a playoff position in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Canadiens are currently the third-worst team in the Eastern Conference.
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Montreal is dangerously close to watching their season slip away unless they turn things around in a hurry.
If the Canadiens still had Radulov, turning around their season and improving their poor goals-per-game average would be a lot easier.