Habs Mailbag: Makes sense for Canadiens to keep David Savard around
Who would you want the Habs to acquire as the second-line centre?
Bill Stewart
Sam Bennett would be the free-agent centre at the top of my list, but the 28-year-old who had 25-26-51 totals this season with the Florida Panthers — along with 90 penalty minutes — and was a key player for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off will definitely be getting a lot of offers, including from U.S. teams that have no state taxes.
Other centres who can become unrestricted free agents this summer include the Toronto Maple Leafs' John Tavares and Brock Nelson of the Colorado Avalanche. Tavares is 34 and Nelson is 33, but they are still productive players and could add valuable experience to the young Canadiens on short-term contracts. Tavares would like to stay in Toronto in part because he has three young children and extended family there, but Montreal isn't very far from Toronto if the Maple Leafs don't want to keep him.
Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has worked hard trying to make Montreal a destination free agents will be interested in. It will be interesting to see how that plays out this summer.
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