Trade Rumors: Canadiens, Petry, Stars, Coyotes

Though unimaginable just a few short months ago, the defending Stanley Cup finalist Montreal Canadiens are fully open for business, according to new GM Kent Hughes. Hughes tells TSN’s Pierre LeBrun that the team is “open to everything” when it comes to trading away players amidst this dismal season. Montreal is on pace for a historically poor campaign and Hughes must do all he can to try to right the ship. It remains to be seen if that is just moving some select players or an outright fire sale. Confounding the situation is the fact that the Habs are not your typical sellers; the team has just a handful of expiring contracts to ship off as rentals and is mired in long-term contracts. Montreal has more than $70MM in annual salary committed through the 2023-24 season, with many contracts extending well beyond that point too. So while Hughes can name drop Ben Chiarot as a player who he has discussed the possibility of a trade with, the critical moves for the Canadiens will not be the obvious rentals but getting out from under some of their long-term commitments. Is that something that Hughes can do before the trade deadline or will the dismantling of the roster truly begin this offseason?

• At least one term player who could be on the move is veteran defenseman Jeff Petry, whose name has begun to circulate on the rumor mill alongside Chiarot’s. Petry is suffering through an uncharacteristically bad season, which understandably makes the Canadiens wary of the remaining three years left on his $6.25MM AAV contact. While only mentioning Chiarot by name, Hughes noted to LeBrun that he had begun discussing trade potential with a number of his veteran players, in part to determine how they were feeling about being a part of the current Habs roster. It seems Petry was one of these players and didn’t hide that he was equally dissatisfied with being in Montreal as the club has been with his performance. On TSN’s “Insider Trading”, LeBrun reported that Petry has indicated that he is open to moving on. More specifically, he would actually “welcome a trade.” LeBrun hears that one team who could be interest in Petry becomes attainable are the Dallas Stars, who seem to be moving on shortly from a cornerstone right-handed defenseman of their own in John Klingberg. If the Stars want Petry though, they will have to pay up. Hughes was adamant that he will not trade Petry at a discount due to his poor play and the team’s struggles this season, a policy that he may apply to all of his core players. This could lead to trades for Petry and others having to wait until the summer or perhaps even next season when the memory of the horrific 2021-22 Montreal Canadiens has faded in the minds of potential suitors.
• One other hindrance to the Habs’ ability to make trades this season is an inability (or unwillingness) to retain salary. Montreal is currently in the Long-Term Injured Reserve salary cap overage and actually have the highest real money payroll in the league currently. Especially when it comes to term players, Hughes is not going to want to add any more unnecessary salary to his roster, even though doing so has become a common way for sellers to land improved trade returns. However, there is good news for the 16 other teams currently in the LTIR or with less than a minimum salary’s worth of cap space – the Arizona Coyotes are still willing to play ball. The ’Yotes jumped head first into their rebuild this past offseason when they took on the likes of Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel, Anton Stralman, Andrew Ladd, and Shayne Gostisbehere from cap-strapped teams in order to land a treasure trove of draft picks as well. Looking at a whopping seven picks in the first two rounds of the 2022 NHL Draft and plenty of cap space still to spend, GM Bill Armstrong is ready to keep it going. With a cap number that is already among the bottom third of the league and an incredible $36MM coming off the books this summer in unrestricted free agents, the Coyotes are willing and able to keep taking on bad contracts in trades, reports TSN’s Chris Johnston. With that being said, as the team looks to improve next season from a 2021-22 pace that would be worst in the league if not for Montreal, Johnston notes that Armstrong and company will be a bit more particular about who they are willing to take on this time around. The caliber of the player going to Arizona appears to be more of a concern than the weight of the contract as the ’Yotes hope to make progress in their rebuild while also taking advantage of the salary cap.