MONTREAL – It was a busy day for the Montreal Canadiens. Just two days after trading star defenseman P.K. Subban, they signed on five new players on Friday.
The most notable acquisition was Russian goal scorer Alexander Radulov, a former teammate of Shea Weber in Nashville.
However, Radulov comes to Montreal with a bit of a chequered past in the NHL.
Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin said he discussed Radulov’s off-ice history with his new star defenseman.
“Shea talked to me about when he was with him in Nashville, it was not a character issue but a maturity issue,” said Bergevin.
Radulov was drafted 15th overall in 2004 by Nashville but he returned to play in the Russian KHL after two seasons. Aside from a brief stint back with the Predators in 2011-12, which saw the forward suspended for breaking curfew in the NHL playoffs, Radulov’s career has played out in Russia.
During the 2015-16 season he played 53 games for CSKA Moscow where he scored 23 goals, the fifth highest in KHL.
Radulov signed on to a one-year $5.75 million contract with Montreal.
“What happened in the past, it was in the past. NHL is the best league and I really wanna come back and play in the best league against the best players,” said Radulov in a telephone press conference from Italy.
Signing Radulov is a move that puzzles Habs analyst Andrew Bershire from the blog Eye On The Prize.
“I don’t think they did anything that would make up for the lost of P.K.”
Despite the loss of Subban, Berkshire is ready to give Radulov a chance.
“He’s a good player and I think people in Montreal will like him. He’s exciting, he’s dynamic,” said Berkshire. “But it’s the kind of move where you wished that you would have had P.K. Subban feeding him pucks.”
The other players acquired today include, backup goaltender Al Montoya with a one-year contract, winger Daniel Carr and defenseman Zach Redmond to two-year contracts. The team also signed first round draft choice Mikhail Sergachev to a three-year entry level contract.
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