The Montreal Canadiens have a need on their blue line and are urged to sign a former first-round pick.
The Canadiens will be without David Savard, who announced his retirement from the NHL. Savard completed his four-year, $14 million deal and decided to retire at age 34. With Savard retiring, the Canadiens will look to replace him and will likely sign his replacement in free agency.
NHL analyst Arpon Basu of The Athletic urged the Canadiens to sign Dante Fabbro to replace Savard on the blue line.
“Fabbro might not make it to July 1, because the reasons why Montreal might want him are the same reasons Columbus would want to keep him,” Basu wrote. “He’s young, shoots from the right side, should be relatively inexpensive and did some good things with the Blue Jackets. The Canadiens have a need on the right side of their blue line with the retirement of David Savard.”
Fabbro is coming off a one-year, $2.5 million deal and will be in line for a massive raise and a multi-year deal.
Fabbro was selected 17th overall in 2017 but struggled to find his footing in the NHL. However, with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, he put it all together and had a ton of success. The 26-year-old finished the year with 9 goals and 17 assists for 26 points last season in 68 games.
Canadiens’ Savard Explains Decision to Retire
Savard announced before the playoffs began that he would retire at the end of the season.
The 34-year-old was a shutdown defenseman who played a physical game. During the season, Savard realized his body couldn’t keep up anymore, which is why he decided to retire.
“Around Christmastime, I kind of knew what my body felt like,” Savard said. “My body’s just kind of failing a little bit. By that time, just thinking about going through another summer, another season, you just don’t see yourself doing it. So I was just going to enjoy it and play as hard as I can…
“I just knew my body wasn’t able to do what I used to do,” Savard added. “I’ve known for a few months now that it was going to be my last year. I don’t know, I think I just wanted to be able to enjoy it as much as possible knowing it’s your last year instead of just waiting until the end of the year to see how you feel and everything.”
Savard finished his career skating 870 career games and won the Stanley Cup in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Canadiens Urged to Add Right-Shot Defenseman
One of the areas of need for the Canadiens in free agency is adding a right-shot defenseman.
With Savard retiring, Montreal will have to replace him this offseason. NHL analyst Brian La Rose of ProHockeyRumors named a right-shot defenseman as one of the top needs for the Habs.
“David Savard wasted little time ending any speculation about his future plans when he announced before the playoffs that he’d be retiring,” La Rose wrote. “That opens up one spot on Montreal’s back end to fill… It wouldn’t be a bad idea to find a short-term veteran who could fill a similar role to Savard while also hedging against Mailloux and Reinbacher needing more development time.”
However, Montreal enters the season with just over $6.1 million in cap space.
Canadiens Urged to Sign Former 1st-Round Pick Defenseman to Replace Savard