Montreal Canadiens TPT: Making Trades in the Next Few Months

In this week’s Twitter Poll Thursday, we ask Montreal Canadiens fans how many trades the team will make in the next few months.

For the last few weeks, Montreal Canadiens fans have been all over Twitter making their best predictions at what the line combinations will look like.

Many see the Canadiens giving Alex Galchenyuk another shot as the top-line center. Others have Jonathan Drouin playing there or even on Galchenyuk’s wing. There are some projections that have Karl Alzner as Shea Weber‘s defence partner, and others that have Jakub Jerabek there. Additionally, all eyes are on Charles Hudon, Jacob de La Rose, and Michael McCarron as well to see if one of them can make the team out of camp.

The point is that the players on the team right now have been talked about in length. However, what if these same players aren’t on the Montreal Canadiens come American Thanksgiving. That holiday has been one of the most important milestones in the NHL regular season. It’s a common belief that team’s that are in a playoff spot by then will keep it, baring some mythical mystical catastrophe.

Which brings us to three important points.

The infamous $8.5 million in cap space.
Extra players on the team that may not have a fit anymore
Some holes that may need based on certain scenarios

Obviously the first point is what sticks out the most to Canadiens fans. The consensus has been, “There’s no way Marc Bergevin let’s the team start the season with that much cap space”. It’s possible the Habs GM has a couple trades lined up to deal with all those points I mentioned earlier.

But how many? That’s what we asked Habs for this week’s Twitter Poll. How many trades does Bergevin make before U.S. Thanksgiving?

Poll Results

Poll for Twitter Poll Thursday: How many trades do the #Habs make between now and US Thanksgiving? #GoHabsGo
— A Winning Habit (@FSAWinningHabit) August 29, 2017

It looks like the magic number among Montreal Canadiens fans is two. I could agree with that, however I doubt that a future trade will have the same impact as the Drouin one. The Habs acquiring the 22-year-old was one of the most surprising moments of the off-season.

Montreal has the cap space to acquire a big piece, and a number one center could be it. Even though there’s the desire, Montreal will probably want to try out Drouin and Galchenyuk first. Additionally, there’s no one out there the Habs could realistically acquire. John Tavares may not have a contract, but pursuing him may have to wait until free agency (if he’s still unsigned).

Related Story: Pursuing John Tavares

There’s also the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins avenue, but the Edmonton Oilers wont really have to make room until next year.

What Trades?

Two kinds of trades make sense for the Montreal Canadiens, each involving the second key point mentioned earlier.

If de La Rose and Daniel Carr have a strong camp, they may draw interest from other teams. So much so that a team would claim them off waivers if the Habs send them down to the AHL. If that’s the case, perhaps a deal is made to acquire something for them instead of losing the players for nothing.