Need to also consider that they have Maatta (19), Niskanen (27), Letang (27), Bortuzzo (25) already on their back end. Players like Scott Harrington (21) and Brian Dummolin (22) in the pipe. They aren't exactly old. The guys they have that ARE old (Martin, Orpik, Scuderi) are the kind they can replace with UFA deals or phase out.ClamRussel wrote: Sure they have, they won the Cup w/o Malone. That was so long ago btw, they had Bill Guerin on the team. If I was them I'd sell the farm to win now. How many years do Malkin & Crosby have in their prime? By the time Pouliot is ready to contribute imagine where their current core will be. Having a pair like they have up the middle does not happen very often. Agreed they need more toughness, big time!
Go Habs!!!
Trading a guy like Pouliot in a package for Ryan Kesler will not cripple their depth now, nor in 4-5 years, but it WILL give them that dynamic shut-down centre, who can ride Shotgun with Crosby, play the PK, or anchor a depth line. There's a lot of options for them. I would not be shocked to see Kesler wind up with 40 goals again if he had Crosby passing to him on PP's and the odd 5-on-5 shift.
Now that Boston is done, maybe they want in on the RK sweepstakes. Him and Bergeron would be an epic shutdown combo