Eight weeks to training camp. Almost three weeks into the free agent signing period and here is what we know.

The core Canadiens that you saw during their nineteen game playoff run, is the one you will see in October and maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Gone are forwards Glen Metropolit and Dominic Moore plus defencemen Paul Mara and Marc-Andre Bergeron through free agency plus goaltender Jaroslav Halak and winger Sergei Kostitsyn through trades.

Arriving will be centres Lars Eller (through the Halak trade) and Dustin Boyd (in the Kostitsyn trade) and backup goaltender Alex Auld (UFA).

Twenty players are signed with the last piece of the off-season main puzzle, a long or short-term deal for restricted free agent Carey Price. Price’s contract will take a chunk out of the remaining 4.728 million dollars in cap room. With the roster at 23, the Canadiens will be looking at the Hamilton Bulldogs for at least two graduates.

Training camp will decide that. Forwards Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais, Ryan White and J.T. Wyman plus defencemen Yannick Weber and Mathieu Carle are all on the cusp.

You can bet money that there will be one or two surprises, a la Tom Pyatt, to emerge in training camp. Excluding that, the front end of the team looks very much the same.

Benoit Pouliot is the most vulnerable among the top six forwards. The Canadiens have told him to put on twelve pounds over the summer. If he does that and resurrects some of the work ethic he showed when he first came over from the Minnesota Wild, he will be back on the line with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.  If not, he might find himself doing third and fourth line duty and the Canadiens may be hoping that the stint in Hamilton has done Max Pacioretty the world of good.  

Nothing changed in the second line with Plekanec centering Cammalleri and the remaining Kostitsyn brother.

The scouting reports on Denmark’s Lars Eller indicate that, even as a rookie, he will be the Habs number three centre. It seemed clear to anyone who was paying attention during the playoffs that Maxim Lapierre is better suited as a right winger rather than at centre. Travis Moen is likely to play the left side on that line.

There are more than a few scouts who think Dustin Boyd has the skills to have a twenty goal season. That would be a bonus, if it ever happens. Right now he’s the Habs fourth line centre with Tom Pyatt and Mathieu Darche.

The defence seems set. Markov and Subban; Spacek and Hamrlik; Gorges with Gill. O’Byrne – the odd man. Right now it’s Alex Auld backing up Carey Price but veteran Curtis Sanford still has a 550-thousand dollar Canadiens contract and he had a good year in Hamilton last season.

Things change in training camp.  What were perceived strengths become exposed as weaknesses.  Injuries crop up.  A rookie makes a breakthrough.  What we see in mid July may not be what we get in mid-October.  One need only look back to the late training camp trade for Robert Lang two years ago or the early-season addition of Marc-jAndre Bergeron last October. 

Some statistics -

Average age of the Canadiens – 27.5 years.

Total salaries – 20 players (excluding Price but including $500,00 George Laraque buyout) $55,896,727 plus $425,000 bonus money.

Cap Space – $4,728,273.

Restricted Free Agents signed – Benoit Pouliot, Tom Pyatt (June 29^th), Dustin Boyd and minor league defenceman Frederic St. Denis (July first); Minor leaguers Mathieu Carle and J.T. Wyman (July 13^th), centre David Desharnais and Russian rookie forward Alexander Avtsin (July 15^th).

Unsigned RFA’s – forwards Brock Trotter, goaltender Cedric Desjardins, forwards Brock Trotter and Ryan Russell.

Unsigned UFA’s -Paul Mara, Dominic Moore, Glen Metropolit, Marc-Andre Bergeron from the Canadiens roster. From Hamilton forwards Mikael Johansson, Mike Glumac, Gregory Stewart plus defencemen Michael Busto, Andre Benoit and Alex Henry.