Streit to leave Montreal?

From Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette:

Journal du Montréal beat man Marc de Foy reports the Canadiens may be loath to shell out the dollars needed to keep Mark Streit in Montreal.

The team has a lot of balls in the air, in terms of contracts. Themain priority is Andrei Kostitsyn, who can become an RFA on July 1, ascan Josh Gorges and Jaroslav Halak.

De Foy also points out that Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu are entering the final year of theircontracts. And the team will want to lock up Mike Komisarek, who canbecome a UFA on July 1, 2009.

Read the short entry here.

I don’t see the Habs breaking the bank to sign Streit. While he is extremely versatile and valuable to the team, his defensive work does not merit him signing a large-money contract. As much as the Habs would hate to lose him on their power play, Andrei Markov is capable of handling the load on the point without him. Additionally, mastermind Kirk Muller can surely find a way to maintain the Habs’ success with the man-advantage.