MONTREAL-- Eventhough defenceman Sheldon Souray will command a salary over US$5 million, why wouldn't Canadiens' GM Bob Gainey retain him?
With the loss of Daniel Briere and Ryan Smyth to the Flyers and Avalanche, there are no more US$6 million players on the market, therefore the Canadiens have the money and cap space to re-sign Souray, and a couple of tier II/III forwards.
Add to that the fact that all defencemen who could of replaced Souray are off the market, like Mathieu Schneider, Scott Hannan, Tom Poti and Brian Rafalski, and the Canadiens basically have no choice.
Although Souray has some serious defensive issues, his offense is irreplaceable. He led all defencemen with 26 goals, 19 of which came with the man advantage. He also ranked 3rd among blueliners with 64 points.
The question is, does Bob Gainey think that his offense makes up for his defense?
The answer is far from being known, but I can say that I do not think it does.
But let's face it, he's the best option we have.
