Ann 2UFA Watch: Mark Streit - To Keep or To Let Go? That Is The Question
May 7th 2008 20:49
Streit loves Montreal
First of all, his numbers are highly inflated by the fact that he spent most of the season playing on the wing. He often said that he prefers to play as a D but he doesn't react well to pressure which leads us to the second point. When playing on D, Streit is very vulnerable to the opposition's forecheck. He often commits giveaways as soon as he's pressured whether it's in his own zone or when he's playing point on the powerplay. During the playoffs, he often took the wrong decision – shooting instead of passing, passing instead of shooting – simply because the opposing team didn't give him time to think. Third, there's no guarantee that he'll play as well on the powerplay with another team. The Canadiens' powerplay was like a well-oiled machine. Unlike the year before where the strategy was to pass the puck to Souray for a shot, the success of this year's powerplay rested on the effort all five players. Take out one player and the machine starts to cough and sputter. It's precisely what happened in the playoffs. The other teams gave no space to Kovalev and pressured both Streit and Markov when they had the puck on the point. As a consequence, the league-leading powerplay which had a 24.3% rate of success in the regular season became a frustrating exercise in the playoffs with a success rate of 14.6%.
Streit said that his first choice is Montreal. He has also stated that money is not an option since he could make much more of it in his homeland. However, it is clear that he wants a substantial pay rise along with a long-term contract. I would be surprised if Bob Gainey offered him a $3.5 million contract after his performance in the playoffs. $3 million sounds okay. $2.75 million would be better as a hometown discount. See, Streit's girlfriend is a quebecker and he loves it here. I hope that he will do the same as Markov; that is, sign with the Canadiens without even testing the market. I'm afraid that some nutcase GM like Kevin Lowe makes him an offer that the Habs will not be able match. A lot of important players on the roster (namely Plekanec, Komisarek and Higgins) will be free agents next year and Gainey needs the cap space. Especially if he's still shopping for an impact forward. If Gainey can't sign Streit, there's always the option of putting Sergei K. on the point as well as re-signing Brisebois. Streit is somewhat a first priority. I say “somewhat” because Andrei K.'s contract negotiations will be a lot more important. We'll see how it goes.
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