2) James Wisniewski: We saw why he doesn’t have the reputation of a
shutdown defender, but his offensive play is more than sufficient right now. 
He had 3 assists, including ones on both of Gionta’s GTG’s.
(Previous: 1  Average:
1.50)

3) Carey Price: Yes, he struggled against Atlanta but was very sharp
against Pittsburgh and Boston, playing a key role as the Habs picked up 4 points
against those two squads.
(Previous: 3  Average:
2.71)

4) P.K. Subban: With Gorges now out for the year, a lot of his
responsibility and ice time will fall to the rookie.  So far, he has more
than held his own with the higher expectations.
(Previous: 4  Average:
9.29)

5) Max Pacioretty: Heading into Saturday’s game, he was having a quiet
week.  By the end of the Boston game, he was averaging a point per game for
the week with a clutch game winning OT goal.
(Previous: 6  Average:
4.25)

6) Scott Gomez: As he goes, so goes the Montreal transition game. 
When he’s on, he can dominate that aspect and for the most part, he has been on
his game lately.
(Previous: 2  Average:
10.00)

7) Benoit Pouliot: He seems to have found some chemistry with recently
recalled Desharnais and his shootout move, though certainly not original, still
was a dandy.
(Previous: 15  Average:
9.64)

8) Mathieu Darche: Yes, his touch around the net makes Pyatt look like a
20-goal man sometimes but he is doing the right things out there and is picking
up a few points along the way.
(Previous: 14  Average:
14.21)

9) Tomas Plekanec: Worked hard all week but had barely anything to show
for it.  He needs to put the points up at home, especially given his
struggles this year on the road.
(Previous: 7  Average:
5.14)

10) Roman Hamrlik: Struggled somewhat vs Atlanta but that was largely due
to the injury he was playing through.  He was mostly healthy against the
Bruins and it showed.
(Previous: 11  Average:
9.15)

11) David Desharnais: He looked out of place early on but got better as
the week progressed.  If his unit can provide some offence (from the 3rd
line), he’ll have a shot at sticking with the Habs.
(Previous: N/A  Average:
11.00)

12) Jaroslav Spacek: It seemed he was playing with someone else on a
period to period basis.  Despite that, he was decent in both ends.
(Previous: 8  Average:
6.14)

13) Mike Cammalleri: I think it’s now safe to say he’s in a slump. 
Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t bring much else to the table aside from his
offensive skill set so he needs to get going quickly.
(Previous: 9  Average:
6.50)

14) Hal Gill: I like him with Subban, the Habs may be on to something
there.  I also found it comforting when he didn’t back down from Zdeno
Chara, Gill is one of the few NHL’ers who can actually look him in the eye.
(Previous: 16  Average:
14.21)

15) Yannick Weber: Looked a little out of sorts offensively which is
certainly unexpected for a player basically heralded as an offensive blueliner. 
No issues with his defensive play though; frankly, I was stunned to see him
scratched (and I know I wasn’t the only one).
(Previous: 10  Average:
16.00)

16) Andrei Kostitsyn: At times, he was great, driving the net, getting
chances.  At others, he was listless out there.  Sadly, there were
more of the latter than the former. 
(Previous: 19  Average:
10.50)

17) Jeff Halpern: In his defence, most people couldn’t put up offence
with his linemates.  That said, I wish he could be doing a little more,
though I have no complaints about his defensive game.
(Previous: 18  Average:
9.93)

18) Travis Moen: The highlight of the week was a fight which stemmed from
the rare occasion he drove the net.  Defensively he has been fine but
players like that should be getting Halpern money, not 2.5 times that.
(Previous: 21  Average:
15.79)

19) Tom Pyatt: I’m a big fan of his, I think he’s great as a young,
cheap, defensive specialist.  Unfortunately, when the offence is
struggling, he starts to hurt the lineup more.
(Previous: 16  Average:
16.00)

20) Alexandre Picard: His presence against Boston was surprising and
after seeing him struggle through that (and the Pittsburgh) game, he should be
in the press box for the next little while.
(Previous: 23  Average:
17.17)

Louis Leblanc: His offensive numbers are impressive, more so when you
consider he didn’t pile on the points vs Norway, saw little PP time, and wound
up playing on every line at some point.  At this point, he doesn’t look
like that game breaker the team covets up front but he remains a solid
all-around player that every good team has. 

Joonas Nattinen: He got off to a strong start offensively but tailed off
as the medal round came and went.  He has most of the tools to be a solid
bottom 6 NHL’er (size, faceoff prowess, attention to detail defensively) but his
skating is becoming a major red flag.  He looked slow out there, it can’t
be sugarcoated.  He reminds me a lot of Ryan White, with White being the
better physical player and Nattinen a little more advanced offensively.  He
has done enough to merit signing an entry-level deal this offseason.

First off, Gorges isn’t exactly making a whole lot of money.  Since the
Habs are heading into LTIR territory early next month (once they use up their
accrued cap space), all they’ll be able to spend on top of what’s left of
Markov’s remaining salary (as Wisniewski will eat a chunk of that) is what’s
left of his deal, a pro-rated $1.1 million.  That in itself limits the
options.  Also, the Habs have dealt away a lot of picks recently, the
cupboard isn’t as strong now as it was a couple years back, especially with
players like Subban and Pacioretty recently making it full time in the NHL. 
So the question is, even if they can find a defenceman cheap enough that can
help the team, is it worth moving another future asset or two to get said
player?

Frankly, at this point, I’m not sure they’re willing to.  Right now, the
Habs, like it or not, are a borderline playoff team, and with Markov and Gorges
both out, that’s not likely to change for the better, at least significantly. 
Thus, I think that if they do opt to look beyond Carle and Festerling and go for
an option from another organization, it will be through the waiver wire, as an
upgrade over Alexandre Picard who is in the midst of his worst stretch of the
year.  Montreal went this route briefly with Jay Leach last year and I
don’t think there are too many that would argue that it wasn’t a beneficial
pickup.

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