Aiming for a lower-hanging fruit: Teravainen

Ah, Montreal in late August. When weather begins to cool down (not complaining we had a fabulous summer thus far), construction seems to peak and invade the entire city (heck, that seems to be Montreal almost the entire year), and hockey season is just right around the corner.

Montreal at the end of the summer is also when fans also begin to realize that- oopsie daisy-we still haven't addressed our longstanding even CRYING issue: help up the middle. Like a Bernie Beigne donut, the hole still remains.

We've been teased yet again this offseason: Sidney Crosby, Jordan Kyrou, Mason McTavish (heck even Kadri would have been a gargantuan upgrade on Dach, Veleno or Newhook!), but, as usual, nothing of that nature likely came close to ever happening. The stark reality is that the Canadiens have developed a promising pipeline of prospects, but aside from the current core, and possibly, Reinbacher, Fowler, and Hage, none of the teams with the ability to spare a top 2C will be tempted by anything else the Habs have as assets.

So here we are. Once again. And I have come to accept that we should start looking for a lower-hanging fruit. No more pipe dreams, no more forbidden fruits!

The player I've identified is Teuvo Teravainen. I know, I know: you're gonna whine, you're gonna tell me he's 30 years old, we should aim higher....but hold on. He's a pretty feisty player, he has extensive playoff experience, this dude wins faceoffs (ok, used to, oddly enough after being a premier FO center for years he has shown a dramatic decline in the faceoff circle these past 2 seasons), and he puts up points! Heck he also has maintained a pretty good +- throughout his career (I get it, Carolina was a good team during this time...but don't forget our current option Kirby Dach and his whopping -29!).

Did I mention he has a very digestible cap hit of 5.4M per, and his contract expires in 2 seasons (when perhaps Michael Hage could slide into the 2C).

I understand it's not a sexy name, it may not be what we had all hoped for. But at this stage, I think we need to be realists. Ya can't get a date for the prom and it's the night before, maybe Zelda down the street who regularly smiles at you can be a stopgap....I mean, you aren't likely to get a call from Carmen Elektra at this point!

Folks, beggars just can't be choosers. And my God, have we been BEGGING for decades now, begging to fill this massive Montreal potHOLE!

It's really quite simple.

We cannot start the season like this. We need a legitimate Center to support Suzy Q, and Teravainen may be the more realistic and feasible option at this point.

Like Marc Bergevin once told us "This is not PlayStation!"