Denis Gurianov will not receive a qualifying offer from the Canadiens

When Evgenii Dadonov was traded to the Stars, the Habs decided to go after Denis Gurianov in return for his services.

It was a gamble worth taking. After all, if you’re going to get another pick who might be used to take a chance on someone, you might as well take a chance and make room on the Stars’ roster, right?

Things started well with him, but as time went on, it became clear why the Stars had thrown in the towel on his case. The fickleness of the man who refused to wear the Pride jersey is palpable.

To retain his rights, the CH will have to make his agent a qualifying offer of $2.9 million. That said, Arpon Basu reports that the Habs have no intention of doing so, which would make the Russian an uncompensated free agent.

A little Canadiens offseason primer with some information gathered at the combine and elsewhere. His name is sadly missing here, but @MAGodin was a huge part of the reporting process: https://t.co/vEDYbl7dPf

– Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) June 14, 2023

In reality, what the CH is afraid of is seeing Gurianov sign the $2.9M one-year deal. This would handcuff the GM to the payroll for 2023-2024.

That’s not what the CH wants.

In fact, if he becomes as free as a bird, it would be possible to see him coming back to town. He could offer his services to the 31 other NHL teams, but he could also return to Montreal.

And it wouldn’t be for $2.9 million per campaign, we agree: it would be on the cheap.

Remember that this is not an unusual procedure, as the Habs did the same last year with Rem Pitlick. In the end, he chose to stay with the CH on a two-year contract valued at $1.1 million per season.

Is this what awaits the Russian? I have a feeling he won’t be staying in Montreal… and that the KHL is a plausible scenario. But in reality, we’ll see this summer.

Breaking news

– A promotion awaits Nicole Bouchard.

Simon Gagné will be named GM of the Remparts at 2 p.m. Nicole Bouchard will be promoted. Full details: https: //t.co/XeR1FGFW9C

– Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) June 15, 2023

– Alex DeBrincat in arbitration?

Will have more on this later but the Senators will elect to take winger Alex DeBrincat to arbitration at Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline. He doesn’t want to sign here, the club can get a 15% discount on his $9 million contract if successful so it makes sense. #Sens

– Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) June 15, 2023

– It takes a village to raise a child, as they say.

Matthew Tkachuk said it was a group effort to help him play in game 4-

“The next few days were pretty tough…my brother was staying with me, has to get me out of bed, he’s getting me dressed… guys tying my skates, putting on my jersey.”

– Katie Engleson (@KatieEngleson) June 15, 2023

– Well said.

“Find something that you really still love when it gets incredibly hard, when you fail, when you lose, when people tell you that you aren’t very good, when people doubt you. That’s really what you’re probably meant to be doing.”

Wise words in this convocation speech from Kyle… https://t.co/P1mmOUNttt

– Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 15, 2023

– The case will never die.

Former NHLer Chris ‘Knuckles’ Nilan(@KnucklesNilan30) gives you his take on the @RawKnucklesPod if Pierre-Luc Dubois should get picked up by Montreal! https://t.co/jzHf2OkT0h

– Illegal Curve Hockey (@IllegalCurve) June 15, 2023