Habs Add Picard to Blueline

The Montreal Canadiens have added another blueline to their potential blueline for the 2011 season, as they have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Alexandre Picard to a new 1-year, two-way deal on Saturday.  Picard split time between the Senators and the Hurricanes in 2010, scoring 4 goals and adding 11 assists in 51 games between the two clubs.  He has some potential to be the Canadiens' 5th or 6th defenseman this year, but will likely fall into the 7th spot, finding some time in the press box more often than not.

This is a pretty good depth move by the Canadiens, but I don't see it to be any more than that.  The Canadiens depth on defense is actually pretty good, especially with the likelihood of P.K. Subban jumping into the fold and Andrei Markov coming back at 100%, eventually.  Don't get too high on Picard, he won't show enough talent to knock Gorges or Gill out of the line-up, but he will be an adequate injury replacement, when (not if) the time comes.