The Montreal Canadiens will have a big hole on the blue line to fill to start the 2021 - 2022 regular season with veteran defenseman Shea Weber sidelined due to injury, but it sounds like Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin may already have plans in motion to shore up that blue line as we draw closer and closer to free agency.
On his most recent podcast National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman was asked to predict where he saw a number of the key free agents this offseason landing, and one of his most confident predictions involved the Habs and a recently crowned Stanley Cup Champion. According to the insider it sounds very likely that defenseman David Savard, a highly coveted asset at the 2020 NHL trade deadline, will be headed to Montreal where he will sign as a free agent.
"I think David Savard, Montreal," said Friedman with confidence on the 31 Thoughts podcast. "Until I am proven wrong on that one I am going David Savard, Montreal."
Savard was of course a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning squad that defeated Bergevin's Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final, playing 20 games for the Lightning and picking up 5 assists on his way to his first career Stanley Cup. Prior to his time with the Lightning Savard had spent his entire 611 game NHL career as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that drafted him in the 4th round (94th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
