Habs Trade Target: Pavel Zacha

The Boston Bruins currently have Zacha, Elias Lindholm and Casey Mittlestadt that could be considered middle-six centres on many NHL teams. Not to forget, the Bruins also drafted James Hagens, who will play a big role at centre for them in the near future. With that being said, Zacha is probably the one player who fits the Canadiens’ situation best heading into the 2025-26 season.

Given how Michael Hage should be ready to be a 2nd line centre in about 2-3 years, the Habs only need a stopgap for that time. Zacha currently has 2 years left on his contract with the Bruins, which pays him $4.75 million a season. This means Zacha would fit the 2-year stopgap and be on a very reasonable contract with a 2nd line centre during that time. Whereas Lindholm’s contract has 6 years left at $6.75 million, and for what he currently brings may be the Bruins’ worst contract. 

As for Mittlestadt, he is coming off a rough season that saw him struggle to be a 2nd line centre with both the Avalanche and Bruins. The inconsistencies he’s had overall throughout his career make him a much less enticing option than Zacha.

Now, Zacha is not the perfect centre either, as even he had a down year with the Bruins last season. In 82 games, he scored 14 goals and 47 points, which was down from the 59 points and 57 points the two seasons prior. The reason for the down year could be that the team as a whole was weaker, and Zacha played more on the wing last season than in the other two seasons, as the Bruins seemed more inclined to use Mittlestadt up the middle than him. If he returns to centre and plays with good offensive players like he did the previous two seasons, then Zacha could easily be a 55-60 point 2nd line centre again.

As for the faceoff part of his game, Zacha is also very good. Over the last two years with the Bruins, he has won 54.1% of his faceoffs. He has proven to be a good centre in his own end and could be an option to replace Christian Dvorak as the go-to left-handed centre on the team for the penalty kill. Therefore, a player like Zacha could take a lot of pressure off of Nick Suzuki for the next two seasons.

On the unfortunate side, the Bruins may not want to trade Zacha within their division, especially to a team that is one of their biggest rivals. Historically, the Habs and Bruins have made very few trades, but they did make a minor trade at this year’s draft, which could give hope that the trade for Zacha can still be a possibility.

The Fourth Period had Zacha ranked as the 16th player on their trade board, and while Montreal was not on the list of teams interested as of July 22nd, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were now given the uncertainty of Kirby Dach being able to live up to being a top 6 centre, when he gets back to the lineup this upcoming season. The fact that he’s on the board means that the Bruins are likely at least listening to calls on the 6’3 Czech forward. The Habs may need to pay up a little more than some other teams, but it could still get done.

A fair trade for Zacha, who isn’t seen as a top guy on the trade market, could be something along the lines of Oliver Kapanen / Owen Beck, a 2nd round pick and maybe another mid-round pick to the Bruins for Pavel Zacha. This would be a reasonable price for both teams, as the Habs get a player who than be their stopgap, while the Bruins gain some draft capital and a prospect that they can turn into a solid, reliable 3rd line centre.

Would you like to see the Habs trade for Pavel Zacha?