The Montreal Canadiens have long needed to upgrade their left defense. In the summer of 2017, they lost Andrei Markov to the KHL, Alexei Emelin to the expansion draft and traded Nathan Beaulieu to the Buffalo Sabres as well as top prospect Mikhail Sergachev to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
They haven’t properly replaced that quartet since then. The Habs general manager Marc Bergevin has tried to fill the void, but he has a lot more misses than hits when it comes to acquiring left defensemen in the past few years.