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“Even if the Habs want to keep Christian Dvorak, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to leave.”
Félix Forget
“Even if the Habs want to keep Christian Dvorak, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to leave.”
Credit: Getty Images
While there’s a lot of talk about the players the Habs might target on July 1, we shouldn’t forget that the club also has free agents in the making on its roster. After all, guys like Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia have done the city proud over the past few years, and they’re on track to become free agents in ten days or so.

The popular feeling right now is that both players won’t be back. Their departure would hurt (especially at the numerical disadvantage), but there are youngsters on the rise and we’ll have to make room for them.

Dvorak, on the other hand, is a little more interesting. The Habs have a surplus of right-handed centers, and a guy like Dvorak (who is left-handed) could still help out for a year or two. There’s a reason the club was interested in Jonathan Toews, you know.

And on the Tellement Hockey podcast, Marc Antoine Godin chatted a bit about Dvorak… and listening to him, you get the impression that the forward might not necessarily want to come back: going back to the U.S. probably speaks more to him.

Because in reality, Dvorak would be far from the worst option for the club… but he’ll have interest south of the border, and he’ll have the final say.

We know that Dvorak, who hasn’t always been a crowd favorite in recent years, is capable of helping a team in a supporting role. There are teams who will be eyeing him up, and you’d think that playing closer to home would be something he’d be interested in.

I wonder, for example, if the Blackhawks, who have a lot of money and could use a guy like Dvorak (who is an Illinois native) to take on defensive duties, could make him a competitive offer.

On the other hand, you also have to wonder whether Dvorak could be persuaded to stay in Montreal and play with an increasingly competitive team in which he has good friends. He’s found his way back to success with guys like Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher this year, and trying to recreate that magic could be an argument in favor of the Habs.

That’s assuming the club would like to keep him.

I expect Dvorak, like Armia, to leave the Habs next season. Both will probably get better offers elsewhere, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Habs to make room for the young up-and-comers.

But if Dvorak is open to the idea of coming back, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to bring him back for a year or two.


Overtime

– The party continues for the Panthers.

– Interesting.

– Monster deal in the NBA.

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