English
EspañolSAN JOSE, Calif. — The Montreal Canadiens are rolling into the NHL’s trade deadline in a luxury ride, with the windows down and sunroof open to all possibilities that might happen to fall out of the sky.
And if none do, they’ll cruise, because they don’t have to do anything between now and March 6.
We’re talking about a team that’s been in a top-10 position for most of the season to date, a team that’s challenging for first place in the Atlantic Division, a team that’s scored more goals than all but three others in the league. A deep team currently at full health, and most importantly, a team that’s well ahead of schedule on its journey to becoming a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
It was just four years ago that the Canadiens embarked on a rebuild. No one — not even president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton nor general manager Kent Hughes — would’ve imagined their transition out of it would be so smooth and expedient.
But now, with both the present and future appearing so bright, both men will tread carefully to ensure the next step the Canadiens take is forward.
“Kent and I spend a lot of time analyzing that next thing, and we’re in a phase where whatever we do next is really important to get right,” said Gorton when we interviewed him ahead of the Olympic break. “When you ask how we balance our long-term vision with not wasting the opportunity in front of us, it’s hard to answer if this is the time or when the time will be (to strike) because you really don’t know until something is presented to you. Kent’s really good at being really on top of what is out there, talking to managers a lot. He’s pretty thorough. I think our job is to be ready for whatever it is and when those decisions come, whether they come today or tomorrow or months down the road.”
Makes sense.
Then again, that came after Gorton said he and Hughes would “like to be aggressive,” and guaranteed they would if need be.
Having space — and the ability to create more of it — as well as tons of draft capital and one of the deepest and most talented prospect pools in all of hockey has put them in the plush seats of that luxury ride.
If the right piece(s) become available, you have to think Gorton and Hughes will pounce.
Projected deadline day cap space: $1.49M
Contracts: 45/50
Retention slots open: 3/3
Draft picks (via PuckPedia):
Needs
None.
Desires? Yes, the Canadiens have some.
Start with a second-line centre who’s more established than rookie Oliver Kapanen.
If the Canadiens can’t find one, an edgy top-six winger with winning experience wouldn’t be turned away from.
Mix in a right-handed, top-four defenceman that slots next to either Mike Matheson or Lane Hutson and pushes Kaiden Guhle back to his natural side on the left and you’re cooking with gas.
As for a goaltender, Gorton pooh-poohed that possibility before the break, and we don’t think the three games the Canadiens have played since (wins over Winnipeg and Washington, with an overtime loss to the New York Islanders in between) have changed his and Hughes’ stance.
We’re also not convinced that anything that happens in the Canadiens’ final game before the deadline — against the Sharks on Tuesday — will alter that.
“We’re probably more comfortable than everyone suggests we are right now with our two goalies,” Gorton said of Jakub Dobes and Samuel Montembeault. “I think that we’re all encouraged with how they’ve both been playing lately. We’re encouraged with what we’ve seen from Sam since he came back (from his December conditioning stint in Laval) and Dobes has been better.”
No arguments here, with Montembeault ranking 13th in the league in goals saved above expected over his last 10 appearances and Dobes not suffering a regulation loss in any of his last 11 games, with his last one coming Dec. 9.
Assets to trade
Provided the first-round picks are lottery-protected, they and all the other picks would be in play for the right player(s).
Rentals probably don’t qualify, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on a recent Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
Jayden Struble: Not that he’s being shopped, but his most regular place with the Canadiens this season has been on the margin of an overcrowded blue line. There’s no doubt he’s good enough to be a regular, though he has a better chance of being one with a team that’s not as deep. If the Canadiens need to create a bit of space, clearing Struble’s $1.41 million cap hit through 2027 might be one way of doing it, and so he’s being listed as a tradeable asset — with the caveat that the Canadiens will more likely hang onto Struble if no other defenceman is coming in from another team.
Patrik Laine: He is being shopped, with the carrot of retaining half of his expiring $8.7-million cap hit dangling as enticement because little else about the player appears to be attracting suitors at the moment. Laine’s played just five games this season, and though he produced 20 goals last year — including 15 on the power play— there are few (if any) teams in playoff or title contention clamouring for his services. And the Canadiens are only likely to move him to a non-contender to clear space if they need it. Otherwise, he’ll finish the season in Montreal.
Oliver Kapanen: OK, don’t freak out, Canadiens fans. By no means are we suggesting the brass is pushing a 22-year-old centre with 18 goals and a very promising future out the door. But when we get to the next section, at least one of the players listed as a potential target carries a very high acquisition cost.
We’re not going as far as to list top prospects David Reinbacher, Adam Engstrom, Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky as “assets to trade,” either. But if we could call them all untouchable, they wouldn’t even be mentioned.
Zachary Bolduc / Alex Texier: Again, neither is being shopped, but neither is completely off the table. Especially if the Canadiens need to make space for an incoming roster player.
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Potential targets
In the go-big-or-go-home category is Robert Thomas, because the Canadiens can’t afford to just completely disregard a top centre who fits perfectly in the age range and salary structure of their team — especially one with the potential to immediately vault them into their contention window — just because they love their prospects so much.
We think the world of Kapanen, Hage, Zharovsky, Engstrom and Reinbacher, too.
But Thomas is a serial winner — he has two OHL Championships, one Memorial Cup, one world junior championship and one Stanley Cup to his name — who produced 65 points as a low over his last four seasons. In each of the two campaigns that preceded this one, he generated 60 assists, with 86 points recorded over 82 games in 2023-24 and 81 points notched in 2024-25. And the dip of 35 points in 43 games this season can be at least partially attributed to some injury issues and the St. Louis Blues being largely disconnected and dysfunctional.
Make no mistake, if Nick Suzuki is the Canadiens’ Patrice Bergeron — and the latter seems to think the former fits the bill — then Thomas could be their David Krejci.
It’s only more enticing that he’s six-foot, 207 pounds, 26 years old, and counting for just $8.125 million on the cap through 2031.
The Canadiens don’t have to go get Thomas, though. They can — and might even prefer to — wait and hope for Kapanen, Hage or Zharovsky to become as effective. They can also hold Engstrom and Reinbacher, even if it’s unlikely there’ll be long-term space for both of them with Lane Hutson signed for eight more years, Noah Dobson signed for seven more, Matheson and Guhle both inked for five more years beyond this one, and an ace like Bryce Pickford rising up beneath them.
Or Gorton and Hughes can think about creating a package no one else can beat for Thomas, who’s a sure thing.
Maybe it’s something like Kapanen, Engstrom/Reinbacher, another prospect like Owen Beck and a second-round pick. Maybe it’s either Hage or Zharovsky and one of the blueliners or a first.
Whatever it is, the price will be very high, and the Canadiens should seriously consider paying it.
Because players like Thomas rarely become available in their prime and none of those incredible prospects of theirs is guaranteed to hit the way he already has.
If they deem the cost to acquire Thomas too high, then looking at either Ryan O’Reilly or Nazem Kadri to bridge the gap to Kapanen, Hage and Zharovsky’s ascension makes sense. Particularly in that order, with 35-year-old O’Reilly signed for just $4.5 million through 2027.
The six-foot-one, 207-pounder fits perfectly with the Canadiens — as a player who plays bigger than his size, as a lefty who wins over 55 per cent of his faceoffs, as a Stanley Cup winner, and as someone who’s produced 21 goals and 57 points in 59 games after putting up 21 and 55 in 79 last season.
The problem is that even if O’Reilly doesn’t have trade protection, he’s reportedly being treated as though he does. And every source we’ve touched base with about him since Friedman mentioned him as a potential target for the Canadiens has suggested he’d prefer to remain in Nashville or move to a quieter market than Montreal, if he must move.
Sources have suggested to us that Kadri, however, wouldn’t be opposed to coming to the Canadiens.
The hitch: even if the 35-year-old Cup winner is still quite productive — he has 12 goals and 41 points for a Calgary Flames team that can’t score — and even if he also plays bigger than six-foot, 185, he counts for $7 million on the cap for each of the next three seasons beyond this one.
We don’t know if the Canadiens would meet Flames GM Craig Conroy’s high asking price to take all that on, but we do know they can’t without clearing significant space.
As far as an edgy winger is concerned, Calgary’s Blake Coleman, who makes $4.9 million per through 2027, is compelling. But some sources have indicated Montreal is among the 10 teams he’s listed on his modified no-trade clause, and two others have suggested his destination of preference is Dallas.
When we sat with Gorton, he didn’t feel “an imminent need” for a defenceman who could be counted on more than Struble or Arber Xhekaj currently are.
And while we didn’t talk with Gorton about getting a big crease-clearing, board-eating righty to play above them, it stands to reason he and Hughes would be in the market for such a player. We were banging the drum earlier this season for Vancouver’s Tyler Myers, but that was before sources informed us his family situation had him unlikely to waive his no-movement clause for any team in the Eastern Conference.
Maybe that changes now that Myers has been told the Canucks want him to consider offers already on the table to move him.
If it doesn’t, Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen fits, even if he’s never played an NHL playoff game. Like Myers, he’s only under contract for one more season, and the price to pay will likely only be picks.
My friend Tony Marinaro, of the Sick Podcast, has speculated about Chicago’s Connor Murphy, who’s six-foot-four, 212 pounds, right-handed, and on an expiring $4.4-million cap hit.
But we don’t know if Montreal sees him as a fit, and it’s unclear what the front office would be willing to pay for a rental.
What we know for sure is they won’t make trades just to make them. If the Canadiens stand pat, after having already added Bolduc, Dobson, Texier and Danault since the off-season, it’s because the right thing(s) didn’t fall through their sunroof.
