Jun 19 Finally...Tanguay is now a Hab!

by Gary Whittaker

After a season of fruitless rumors of being traded for Michael Ryder, Bob Gainey was finally able to pull the trigger and acquire Alex Tanguay from the Calgary Flames for their 1st round pick this season (25th overall), and a 2nd round pick in 2009.

Tanguay has 1 year left on his current contract that will pay him 5.25 million dollars. It's safe to say that this quietly puts an end to Michael Ryder's career as a Montreal Canadien. Ryder is an Unrestricted Free Agent that made 2.95 million dollars last year. The only way he will be seen in a Habs uniform next season is if he takes a drastic pay cut.

Both Ryder and Tanguay had sub par seasons last year, with Tanguay only scoring 4 more goals than Ryder despite playing in 8 more games. Tanguay also spent most of last season playing on the top 2 lines, while Ryder had been used on the 4th line on occasion for the Habs. Looking at their last 4 seasons in the NHL, Ryder has scored 99 goals compared to Tanguay's 94, but that's where the argument for Ryder ends. Despite being about the same age, Tanguay has been in the NHL since 1999, has a much better shooting % and has never been a minus player ever in his NHL career. Tanguay is the two way player Gainey wants to have in his lineup, and adds to the speed factor that the Canadiens use well.

Could it be that Tanguay will also be playing on a line with Mats Sundin? That remains to be seen, as Cliff Fletcher announced that the Habs' GM Bob Gainey was given exclusive rights to contact Sundin while he is on vacation in order to see if they can come to a contract agreement with him. The Canadiens are very serious about winning right now as they will be celebrating their centennial year, and I would not be surprised to see more changes as the Habs look to bring in quality veterans either through free agency or from trading some of their quality youth.

Tags: Alex tanguay \ Hab \ Montreal Canadiens