From Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette:
Plan A – a bold attempt to sign Mats Sundin before he became an unrestricted free agent – hasn’t worked out for the Canadiens.
Neither has Plan B, although the No. 2 object of general manager Bob Gainey’s affection – Marian Hossa – is, like Sundin, still on the market.
Read more from Hickey here.
In reality, this isn’t all bad news for the Habs. Remember, this team finished first in the Eastern Conference last season and has a youthful core. Therefore, we can expect them to continue to improve over the next few seasons. Additionally, they added quality winger Alex Tanguay at the draft and still have enough money to sign their own restricted free agents. If I were a Habs fan, I’d be happy my team hasn’t/probably won’t sign Hossa or Sundin.