It’s no big surprise that the Montreal Canadiens and Marc Bergevin have been very busy this off-season. Their surprising playoff push motivated the team to make some improvements now. There is no doubt that the trades/signings of the following players have made them a better team: defenseman Joel Edmundson, goaltender Jake Allen, forwards Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli. Bring in prospect Alexander Romanov in the mix and the emergence of Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi and there are reasons to be optimistic. The team also locked up Brendan Gallagher to a long-term deal, showing their loyalty to him. But what about Tomas Tatar and Phillip Danault? Both are impending UFAs on a team that is and will be having salary cap issues.

I won’t go into advanced analytics, I’ll keep things simple. No offence to Gallagher, but I feel that both Tatar and Danault were the teams most reliable and consistent forwards last year. On a team that had a -9 goal differential, Tatar was +5 while leading the team in scoring and Danault was a whopping +18. Both were #1 and #2 in team scoring while playing against the other teams top lines. Danault finished with 47 points despite seeing very little power play time (don’t ask me why).

It’s true that both Suzuki and Kotkaniemi stepped up their game in the playoffs, but it’s also important to make it to the playoffs in the first place. Both youngsters have talent and room to grow, but Danault in my opinion is still the best center on the team. Heck, he’s one of the best two-way centers in the league. With all the off-season moves, I find it a bit insulting that these two players haven’t been signed yet. They need to be signed. I understand that making cap room for them with complex, but when there’s a will, there’s a way.

If the Canadiens think that Suzuki is a better center than Danault, they are sorely mistaken, so sign Tatar and Danault already!