The patience of the Montreal Canadiens looks to have run dry in regards to Rene Bourque.
Bourque, 32, was placed on waivers today by Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. The winger has just two assists and a -9 in 13 games.
It’s no surprise that Bourque’s scoring is in the dumps, having been a critical failure in the regular season for the Montreal Canadiens. Since being traded to the Canadiens in the deal that sent Mike Cammalleri to the Calgary Flames in the middle of a game in the 2011-2012 NHL season, Bourque has found himself in scoring situations in the top six but could usually be found on the third line. He has only scored 21 goals in the regular season for the Habs, with 39 points in 141 games.
I stress the term regular season because Bourque’s performances in the post-season have been a complete 180 degrees to his regular season, scoring 10 goals and 14 points in 22 post-season games for the Canadiens. He was arguably the best forward for the team in their 2013 and 2014 post-season campaigns. In the playoffs, number 17 plays like a freight train power forward, causing opposing teams to decide if they need to send a better defensive unit against the Canadiens third line. In the regular season, opposing teams send pretty much whomever they want because Bourque shows no direction. His hits always put him out of position, when he goes to the net his stick is never ready to receive a pass and when he fires a shot, there’s absolutely zero accuracy. Last season he scored nine goals with the Habs. That’s the same high Travis Moen scored for Montreal in 2011-2012. In other words, Bourque’s production isn’t much better than a perennial bottom six grinder.
By waiving Bourque, the Canadiens are hoping someone picks up his $3.33M cap hit, which only costs $2.5M in actual salary for this season and next. If he isn’t picked up, the Canadiens would only be saving $900,000 from his cap hit. Bourque was rumoured to be involved in a deal to the Colorado Avalanche last year, packaged with prospect Sven Adrighetto for P.A. Parenteau. Instead, the Habs traded Danny Briere for Parenteau and a draft pick. The Canadiens recently called up forward Drayson Bowman after forward Michael Bournival was injured. It’s now expected that he wasn’t there to replace Bournival but Bourque.
It is unlikely Bourque has much value at the moment with any team in the league from what he brings. There are plenty of teams out there with big forwards in their early 30s not bringing their contract worth. Bourque hasn’t really found himself in a situation where the head coach isn’t using him properly, as Bourque has been used on the left wing, right wing, top six and third line. He has had powerplay minutes and played with a carousel of forwards. Rookie Jiri Sekac’s two point performance against Minnesota was probably what sealed his fate. In that one game, Sekac matched Bourque’s point totals for the season and lit a fire under center Lars Eller, the player Bourque was hot with in the playoffs last season. While a playoff bound team might want to bank on his post-season heroics, there doesn’t seem to be very many with money open for this year and next. As for the teams not looking to be playoff teams? They might have money, but they will also likely have a player or two that fit Bourque’s profile anyway.
The only likely scenario for Bourque to be picked up is if a non-contending team uses him as a warm body and tries to unload him at the trade deadline to a playoff team looking for an offensive spark. Take back some of his cap hit and Bourque isn’t a bad player to have in your press box for a post-season run, ready in case of an injury. In November, there’s no point for a probable playoff team like Montreal to continue wasting a roster spot with him.
It’s hard to say what happens to Bourque after tonight. If he gets picked up, it’ll be interesting to see what team does it. If he doesn’t, Bourque might not eventually go down to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League, as the Canadiens might just look to see if he’d pass waivers and then leave him in the press box. If he does goto Hamilton, it’s hard to see him ever getting out of the AHL. It would be a disappointing end to the career of a player with every bit of ability to be a consistent 20 goal scorer in the league. It’s odd how often Montreal finds those kind of players. It was once Andrei Kostitsyn, and now it’s Rene Bourque. Kostitsyn found himself waived in the KHL this season. Montreal should hope they’ve finally washed their hands of that type of forward after placing Rene Bourque on waivers.
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