Poor Len writes: If I were Marc Bergevin...

Poor Len Canayen here. Ed. wanted an excuse to run this beautiful photo again, so has invited me to talk about what's likely to happen with/to our beloved Montréal Canadiens, now that the so-called all-star game is over and we can get on with real hockey.

It is often said that the position of the teams at the all-star break pretty much spells out where they'll finished when the regular season winds up in early April. That's good news for fans of le bleu, blanc et rouge, because the Habs, to the suprise of everyone including themselves, are in third place in the NHL's Atlantic Division, just one point behind the Toronto Maple Laffs.

Even if the positions are reversed, that would mean Toronto vs Montréal in the first round of the playoffs, something which hasn't happened since 1979. You couldn't ask for a better rivalry than that, although Montréal vs Boston would be pretty close.

The prospect of a playoff run has to change Habs' GM Marc Bergevin's plans for changes to the roster. Before the season started, when everyone was counting the Habs out before the first whistle blew, the conventional wisdom was that M Bergevin would stand pat with the team he'd assembled over the summer, and be neither a buyer nor a seller at the end-of-February trade deadline. The GM himself said he didn't see any need to pick up a "rental" to give the team a boost at playoff time. I'm guessing he is having second thoughts now, so here's my suggestion for a blockbuster trade that could keep les Glorieux from bowing out in the first round.

What I'd do... if I were Marc Bergevin... which I'm not, I know... is... wait for it... get on the phone to Chuck Fletcher, who was hired in December to manage one of the worst teams in the NHL... namely... wait for it... the Philadelphia Flyers. My feelings about Philthydelphia and its alleged sports teams are about the same as those of Bill Burr, but the Flyers have 5 -- count `em, 5 -- assets that could help the Habs, and vice versa. So I'm talking straight-up trade... or pick any 2, 3 or 4 from each list.

Philadelphia Flyers -- Scoring punch comes from 2 solid centres, Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, and 2 good right-wingers, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds. (I should mention that Simmonds is black, and I say that to put paid to all the flak I've been taking for my repeated shots at P.K. Subban, who I'm still glad is gone.) And Habs still only have 3 experienced defencemen, so how about picking up Radko Goudas. He's the type who puts the fear on his opponents (as well as his teammates, sometimes) and Montréal needs that.

Montréal Canadiens -- Sorry I couldn't find a left-winger on Philly to trade with the Habs, who have a surplus. The real trade bait is Jonathan Drouin, who was supposed to be the next superstar who would single-handedly lift the team out of the cellar. Didn't happen last year. As for this, I see flashes of brilliance but I also see inconsistency, and I'd trade Drouin for someone who's going to show up for every game. The other two left-wingers, Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon, are, sorry to say it, choke artists. Hudon tries hard, but has a problem with his hand-eye coordination or timing or something. Lehkonen just doesn't seem to care. They've both had ample opportunity to prove their worth, but have failed.

The other two players on my time-to-go list are defencemen: Karl Alzner and David Schlemko. Last I heard, Schlemko got waived through the league and is presently toiling with the AHL Laval Rocket. There's a reason why no-one picked him up. The reason, in the case of Alzner, was the size of his huge contract, one of Bergie's poorer moves. He's not a bad D-man, but just can't play the style that coach Claude Julien wants. The emphasis now is on speed and the ability to move the puck. Alzner is only a bit faster than Hal Gill (who I really liked, by the way) and seems content to stop skating when he gets to the opponent's blue line, which used to be fine, but that was then.

There you have it, fans, 5 players from each team who could be the subject of trade discussions in this off week. I know I haven't factored in age, contract terms, upcoming free agencies and so on. That's the stuff general managers think about, and I am merely a humble fan. Selah.