Habs Trade Target: Mason McTavish

The fact that he has had struggles recently and needs a change of scenery is part of the reason why he’d be a realistic acquisition, not to mention he won’t cost the same price as someone like Dylan Larkin or Nico Hischier, who are more proven commodities. Jimmy Murphy also reported about 2 weeks ago in his Murphy’s Law column that the Habs had interest in McTavish in the past and that he could be one of their targets in the summer.

Given that McTavish has had his struggles this year, despite signing a 6-year, $42 million extension with the Ducks , there are reasons to believe that he could be moved this summer, especially considering that he lost favour with the head coach as the season went along. After posting a career-high 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games during the 2024-25 season, McTavish regressed back to 17 goals and 41 points in 75 games this year. He was even passed on the depth chart by veteran centre Mikael Granlund. It remains to be seen if he does get traded, but if he does, the Habs will surely be one of the top candidates for McTavish’s new home.

While he may have had a rocky season, the blueprints for him to be a successful 2nd line centre are there, as he has strong offensive instincts and can be a very solid dual threat alongside Ivan Demidov down the road. Not to mention, at age 23 he fits the age of the core very well and can continue to grow his game alongside the other top guys on the team. The fact that he would be coming over to a young team with a younger, more modern coach might be able to get McTavish to unlock new parts of his game, just like Martin St. Louis has done with other young Habs players in recent years. The truth is McTavish being a struggling young player is likely the main reason he is the most realistic acquisition for the Canadiens this summer.

If McTavish were to land in Montreal, it wouldn’t be a guarantee that everything works out, as there are still a lot of things that he needs to work on, such as becoming a better 200-foot player or improving on his speed in transition. In fact, part of the reason that he was a healthy scratch during the postseason on two occasions with the Ducks was due to a lack of footspeed. With that being said, there is still time to work on that weakness before he hits his prime in about 2 or 3 years.

Many young centres struggle in the faceoff dot, but McTavish has been decent in that area, hovering just over 50% in 2 of his last 3 seasons, but dropped to 48.6% this past season as it was yet another area of his game that fell under Quenneville. With that being said, a change of scenery and new beginning could be the best thing for the former 3rd overall pick. On the positive side, the Habs could be getting yet another solid faceoff guy down the road if they do in fact acquire him, and as I’ve mentioned before, winning draws is a small detail that can make a huge difference in creating offence.

Since McTavish is a former top 3 pick who still has good potential to become a 65-70 point player if put in the right situation, he won’t come cheap even after a rough 2025-26 season. The Habs may be able to get him with a package that may not have to include Michael Hage, but Alexander Zharovsky would likely need to go the other way along with another prospect like Owen Beck or a young player like Oliver Kapanen as well as their first-rounder in this year’s draft and maybe the rights to Kirby Dach, who is an RFA that could use a change of scenery himself. Although if the Habs can get the deal done with an NHL-ready prospect like Adam Engstrom instead of Zharovsky, that would be ideal, don’t be surprised if the Habs have to send the Russian prospect the other way to get this deal done.

Would you like to see the Habs acquire McTavish from the Ducks?