Halfway through February, the trade deadline looms and is just a few weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Montreal Canadiens.
This season was supposed to be another transition one for Montreal after finishing last in 2021-22. While the team has a few more points than some may have expected, they remain a team that’s squarely in the middle of a rebuild so that has gone as planned.
What hasn’t gone as planned is their injury situation. The Canadiens are missing numerous regulars at the moment including a pair of veterans that were perceived as their top trade assets. A return to action for those players in the next ten days or so could get them back on the radar but otherwise, it could potentially be a much quieter deadline for them than originally expected.
Record
23-29-4, 8th in the Atlantic
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$4.54MM in LTIR relief, 0/3 retention slots used, 46/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2023: FLA 1st, MTL 1st, MTL 2nd, MTL 3rd, MTL 4th, PIT 4th, VEG 4th, CGY 5th, MTL 5th, MTL 6th, MTL 7th
2024: MTL 1st, COL 2nd, MTL 3rd, MTL 4th, MTL 5th, MTL 6th, EDM 7th, MTL 7th
Montreal also has Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick which, through a series of conditions, could transfer in 2024 if it falls between 20 and 32 and the Canadiens elect to take it. It could take until 2026 to be conveyed.
Trade Chips
All season long, Sean Monahan has been an expected trade chip. When healthy, he is a capable middle-six center that can play both the power play and penalty kill. The problem is that staying healthy has been a problem. He suffered a foot injury in early December and was only expected to miss a few weeks originally but it is now two months and counting. If he can get back playing, there will be some suitors as long as Montreal can retain 50% of his $6.375MM AAV. However, it’s likely that the draft pick being offered will be a fair bit lower than the Canadiens were originally hoping to get and it would be prudent for them to try to put a condition in there based on games played. If that’s the case, it’s possible that GM Kent Hughes flips the script and tries to work out a short-term extension with the 28-year-old.
Veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson has also been in trade speculation for a while. He isn’t a rental as he has another year left on his contract with a $3.5MM AAV, a price tag that’s reasonable for someone that can log 20 minutes a night. His physicality and ability to kill penalties would also be appealing, as would his playoff experience which includes two runs to the Stanley Cup Final since the 2018-19 campaign. However, he has been dealing with recurring back injuries and that’s likely to deter someone from giving up a strong return unless he’s able to get back to action soon and be no worse for wear. This might be a situation where the Canadiens opt to hold onto him for next year and try to get a better return for him as a rental.
Montreal also has a couple of pricey rental veteran forwards in Evgenii Dadonov ($5.5MM) and Jonathan Drouin ($5MM) that they will be willing to move. Dadonov was traded at the deadline last season but the deal was eventually vetoed due to his no-trade clause and instead, he went to the Canadiens for Shea Weber’s contract last summer. He has struggled this season (although he has seven points in his last 12 games) and at best, they’d be looking at a late-round pick with salary retention. Drouin is in a similar situation and has struggled to put the puck in the net; his last goal came on January 1st, 2022. That said, he has a dozen assists in his last 14 games.
In terms of other forwards with term that could go, Mike Hoffman ($4.5MM through next season) and Joel Armia ($3.4MM through 2024-25) are players they’d likely be willing to move. However, with them being signed beyond this season, it seems likelier that any move they could make would be a lateral swap for a similar-priced contract, not one to necessarily add pieces for their rebuild.
Other Potential Trade Chips: F Paul Byron (LTIR contract), D Chris Wideman
Team Needs
1) Young Goaltending: Carey Price’s playing days are all but over and they have an NHL tandem that isn’t the greatest. In the prospect pipeline, Cayden Primeau has shown flashes of upside but he’s far from a guarantee to be an NHL netminder. The Canadiens have some late-round picks performing well at lower levels but they’re a few years away still. A prospect that’s a bit closer to being NHL-ready would fill in a bit gap in their prospect pool.
2) AHL Help: With Montreal currently missing so many players, their organizational depth is being tested. If they do move some veterans out, there will be roster spots that need to be filled and if those are covered by players currently in the minors, those spots will then need to be back-filled. (Alternatively, they could agree to take some expiring veterans back and keep their current players in the minors.) This isn’t a big priority in the grand scheme of things but with the Canadiens not having a lot of quality trade chips and the likelihood that their heavy lifting will come in the offseason instead, this is something that they can realistically strive for in the next couple of weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.