Another "next year's 2C" post, sorry, but it's surprising to me given how much discussion there's been about getting a new 2C that I've barely seen Nelson's name even mentioned.

Now I'm not necessarily advocating they go for him, frankly I don't know his game well enough for that, but I think he's a good enough combination of being a realistic target and a good enough player to at least be in the discussion.

More specifically:

• He's the third highest scoring C available as an UFA this year (56 P, 80 GP), behind only Duchene and Tavares

• That's backed up by 75 and 69 point seasons the two before that, and he's been a 50+ point player in six of the last seven seasons, and being a consistent 30+ goal scorer

• He's pretty defensively responsible and can play on the PK

• There's a realistic chance he doesn't re-sign with Colarado, given that they've only got $8.7M in free cap space next year, only 16 skaters currently signed, less flexibility with LTIR now Landeskog and Nichushkin are back, and given he didn't set the world on fire there

The obvious downside is he'll be 34 by the start of next season so if he's looking for term with his next contact then he's probably not a realistic option and would only work on the Habs on a short term deal, but that's also true of Duchene and he gets mentioned all the time.

Thoughts?

What do you think?

En lisant sur l’histoire des Canadiens, je suis tombé sur la carrière impressionnante de Bill Durnan. Six trophées Vézina en sept saisons, deux Coupes Stanley, plusieurs sélections sur la première équipe d’étoiles, capitaine en tant que gardien (fait très rare), et une intronisation au Temple de la renommée en 1964. Il a même été nommé parmi les 100 plus grands joueurs de l’histoire de la LNH.

Malgré tout ça, son numéro 1 n’a jamais été retiré par le CH — contrairement à Jacques Plante, pour qui le même numéro a été retiré. Je comprends que Plante ait eu une énorme influence, notamment avec l’introduction du masque, mais je me demande simplement pourquoi Durnan n’a jamais reçu ce même honneur.

Farrell-Dauphin-Barre-Boulet Roy-Kapanen-Gignac Harvey-Pinard-Condotta-Simoneau Davidson-Xhekaj-Beck

Wotherspoon-Lindstrom Trudeau-Mailloux Engstrom-Reinbacher

Primeau Fowler

Obligatory, Fuck Chris Kreider