The Canadiens' 2018-19 season foreshadowed great things for this campaign. Despite a more or less disappointing summer of Marc Bergevin, expectations were still high and the players responded during the first month of the season.
However, injuries to key players have added up with the result that the team has been struggling for the last 20 games. Bergevin, therefore, had no choice but to move, which he did this week by getting Marco Scandella and Ilya Kovalchuk.
If Scandella solidifies the left side of the defense, which has been porous for several seasons, Kovalchuk certainly comes to help in the absence of Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher. The 36-year-old Russian has talents that are no longer to be proven, but he will have to be involved to meet expectations if he wants to relaunch his career in North America.
According to Elliotte Friedman, Kovalchuk was not the only forward targeted by Marc Bergevin. Indeed, Vancouver Canucks forward Sven Baertschi could have gone back to Montreal, but this possible deal would have ended. Baertschi, 27, doesn't have the offensive qualities of Kovalchuk, as evidenced by his 138 points in 291 NHL games, but is capable of collecting points on a regular basis, while being much younger than the Russian, which Bergevin certainly had to take into consideration.
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