Canadiens, Blue Jackets Swap Luke Tuch And Hunter McKown

The Canadiens and Blue Jackets have made a small prospect trade.  Montreal has acquired forward Hunter McKown from Columbus in exchange for winger Luke Tuch; both teams have announced the swap.

McKown joined the Blue Jackets as an undrafted college free agent back in 2023 and made the jump to the NHL right away, getting into a dozen games following the signing.  He held his own in that action, picking up two assists while winning just over 55% of his faceoffs while averaging 12:14 of ice time per game.

However, that’s the only NHL action the 24-year-old has seen.  Since then, McKown has played exclusively with AHL Cleveland, recording between 24 to 31 points in each of the last three seasons.  In 63 games with the Monsters this past season, McKown had nine goals and 16 assists.

As for Tuch, he was a second-round pick by Montreal back in 2020, going 47th overall.  The 24-year-old spent four years at Boston University, headlined by a 30-point senior year in 2023-24.

Since then, Tuch has played in the AHL with Laval.  After putting up 14 points in 44 games in his rookie year in 2024-25, he was only able to reach the 14-point plateau this past season despite playing in 24 more games.  He had nine goals and five assists on the campaign.

Both players will be restricted free agents next week.  Tuch has one season of waiver exemption remaining while McKown will be waiver-eligible for the first time in the fall.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report the trade.