While the Montreal Canadiens want to be sellers at this season’s deadline, it remains to be seen if GM Kent Hughes can tackle nearly as much as he did last season when he successfully moved Tyler Toffoli, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, and Artturi Lehkonen for pieces that would help the long-term retool and rebuild currently going on with that franchise. Like last season, there are plenty of names available. The question, however, is if the Canadiens can find interested parties to take these contracts off their hands and give them valued assets in return.
The names Montreal is trying to send out are Joel Edmundson, Jonathan Drouin, Evgenii Dadnov, and possibly Sean Monahan. It’s not clear who, if any, of these pieces will attract a healthy return.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic took a look at all of these names and explained how he saw each player’s respective situation:
When it comes to Joel Edmundson, LeBrun writes that back injuries have made many teams that are kicking tires on him extremely nervous. The ask from Montreal is high and that’s a huge waste of assets if Edmundson can’t play. That he has a contract that extends beyond this season only compounds the concern. LeBrun notes, “so there’s a chance the veteran defenseman stays put now. That’s fine for the team, as he has another year on his deal. And it would also be fine with the player, who wants to stay.”
Pending UFA forward Sean Monahan is another player many believed would be moved but his injury situation will limit him to teams that might think he has a shot of coming back before the deadline, or not again until the playoffs. If he’s active soon, he could be of use to a team. If he’s active only in the playoffs, he’ll have value because his cap hit won’t count toward a team’s roster. Anything in between and there’s a chance he doesn’t move and it’s not clear what his future will be following the season.
Pending UFA winger Jonathan Drouin has played better of late, but LeBrun has not heard his name connected with other teams at all so far.
Will Anyone Be a Likely Trade Candidate?
The only player that the Canadiens can potentially move that they want to is pending UFA winger Evgenii Dadonov. He too has played better of late and options for trades could pop up closer to March 3. If and when some teams miss out on their Plan A options, Dadonov could make sense.
More must-reads: