"It was no surprise that the Canadiens failed to give Benoit Pouliot a qualifying offer Monday.

Pouliot, who was the fourth overall pick by the Minnesota Wild in the 2005 entry draft, was one of five Canadiens who were not qualified. The others are forward Tom Pyatt and defenceman Alexandre Picard and two forwards - Nigel Dawes and Dustin Boyd - who have signed contracts to play next season in the Kontinental Hockey League. All five players are now unrestricted free agents.

The Canadiens had to qualify Pouliot at his 2010-11 salary of $1.35 million. As a free agent, the Canadiens can negotiate to sign him for less money, but that appears doubtful. Pouliot never lived up to his potential and head coach Jacques Martin expressed his lack of faith in Pouliot by not dressing him for four of the Canadiens' seven playoff games this spring.

Pouliot had good size at 6-foot-3 and 199 pounds and a good set of skills, but his skating needs work and there have been serious questions about his drive. After failing to make the grade in Minnesota, he was traded to Montreal on Nov. 23, 2009 for Guillaume Latendresse.

Both players seemed to enjoy the change of scenery, but after scoring 15 goals and nine assists in 39 games in his first season in Montreal, Pouliot tailed off last season and managed only 13 goals and 17 assists in 79 games. He was given an opportunity to play on the top two lines, but finished the season as a fourth-liner.

The decision not to qualify Pyatt is a minor surprise. He has been successful as a penalty-killer and would have been a relative bargain at $550,000.

General manager Pierre Gauthier attempted to trade Pouliot and Pyatt at the draft, but there were no takers."