Rumor: Marc Bergevin has his sights set on another Quebecois player.

The Montreal Canadiens will have a big hole on the blue line to fill to start the 2021 - 2022 regular season with veteran defenseman Shea Weber sidelined due to injury, but it sounds like Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin may already have plans in motion to shore up that blue line as we draw closer and closer to free agency.

On his most recent podcast National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman was asked to predict where he saw a number of the key free agents this offseason landing, and one of his most confident predictions involved the Habs and a recently crowned Stanley Cup Champion. According to the insider it sounds very likely that defenseman David Savard, a highly coveted asset at the 2020 NHL trade deadline, will be headed to Montreal where he will sign as a free agent.

"I think David Savard, Montreal," said Friedman with confidence on the 31 Thoughts podcast. "Until I am proven wrong on that one I am going David Savard, Montreal."

Savard was of course a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning squad that defeated Bergevin's Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final, playing 20 games for the Lightning and picking up 5 assists on his way to his first career Stanley Cup. Prior to his time with the Lightning Savard had spent his entire 611 game NHL career as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that drafted him in the 4th round (94th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

What makes this move particularly interesting from the perspective of the Canadiens and their fans is that Savard is a native of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. The Canadiens have a long history of seeking out and signing players with a Quebecois background and Savard would fit the bill perfectly, especially considering some of the controversy the franchise saw last season surrounding this very topic. Both forwards Phillip Danault and Jonathan Drouin were sidelined earlier in the season leaving the Habs with no Quebecois player on their roster for the first time in franchise history, a problem that the acquisition of Savard could potentially help remedy.

When you consider the fact that Drouin has left the team for personal reasons, although there is a belief he will return next season, and that Danault is expected to hit the open market as a free agent on July 28th, the need to acquire a Quebecois player could be at an all time high for the Canadiens, and Savard may be their answer.