Montreal Canadiens Deadline Trades

The 2015-16 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone and despite being the slowest deadline in recent memory, that did not stop the Montreal Canadiens from executing a few moves/trades to bring in some new faces.

Before we go into any analysis, let’s first introduce who these new players are. Although this trade occurred a few days before Monday’s deadline, Montreal did acquire Phillip Danault when they sold Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann to Chicago as rentals. Danault is a 23 year old center who was Chicago’s 1st round pick in 2011(29th overall). Danault has played 34 games in his young NHL career, including 2 with Montreal, but has spent the bulk of his pro career playing at the AHL level in Rockford.

As for actual deadline transactions, Montreal’s first reported move was the waiver claim of RW Mike Brown. The 30 year old Brown is a 9-year NHL veteran who was a 5th round pick of Vancouver in 2004 and has suited up for five NHL teams in his career.

The lone trade GM Marc Bergevin pulled was a swap of RW Devante Smith-Pelly to New Jersey for Stefan Matteau. Not to be confused with his father Stephane, who scored some clutch goals as a New York Ranger, the younger Matteau is a C/W that was New Jersey’s 1st round pick in 2012(29th overall). Like Danault, Matteau has spent the bulk of his pro career at the AHL, having played in only 44 NHL games.

WHERE DO THEY FIT?

At first glance, Montreal didn’t do much at all at the deadline. But if you dig a little deeper, you can see the value in at least two of their acquisitions.

I’ll start with Phillip Danault. Since being drafted, Danault has been a key member among Chicago’s top 10 prospects, never ranking among the top but doing enough to warrant his ranking and recognition. Danault has spent the bulk of pro career carving out a niche as Rockford’s #1 penalty killing forward, though his offensive skill-set is rather lacking as evidenced by his mere 20 goals and 46 assists in over 150 AHL games. Danault could easily find a home on Montreal’s 3rd or 4th line, playing a similar role to Lars Eller. At only 23, their certainly is room to grow offensively but most believe he will top out as a 10-15 goal/25-30 point player.

Stefan Matteau likely has the most prestigious bloodlines with his father having won a Stanley Cup in 1994. Stefan has seen his stock fall a bit since his draft year and after a solid, though unspectacular AHL rookie season in 2013-14, Matteau failed to build off it as a sophomore. This year has seen some regression as he has only potted 1 goal and is a -9 in 20 AHL games. Saying all that, Stefan still has some untapped potential with great NHL-ready size(6’2″, 220 lbs).

Matteau shares a lot of similarities to the player he was traded for. Both he and Smith-Pelly are high energy, physical players who are aggressive forecheckers but need work offensively. I personally see more offensive potential in Matteau but not by a very wide margin. Like Danault before him, I see Matteau carving out a niche as a 3rd/4th line winger who helps kill penalties, has the potential to sway momentum with his energy and physicality but also needs to learn how to tow the line and not take so many minor penalties himself.

Although I see the potential and the appeal of both Danault and Matteau, the waiver claim that has brought Mike Brown to Montreal has left me puzzled. Despite 9 seasons under his belt, Brown is still only 30 years old but his style of play has been quickly disappearing around the NHL.

Brown’s contributions are few and far between and are mainly through his physicality and fighting ability. Offensively, he has scored just 4 goals and 10 points over his past 152 games that cover the last 4 seasons. Montreal has been the one of the least active teams in fights this year at just 6 fights, 1 less than Brown’s 7. If Bergevin wanted a player to protect his younger players, John Scott is just a phone call away and likely comes with more fanfare and positive media coverage.

MY TAKE

Both Danault and Matteau are going to be given chances to showcase their worth down the stretch as both are battling players such as Sven Andrighetto and Mike McCarron for spots on the 2016-17 NHL roster. With both players fitting the Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien’s mold for a 3rd/4th line player, they likely have an inside edge over some smaller players like Andrighetto.

As for Brown, I don’t envision him seeing much ice time down the stretch. With so many players battling it out among the bottom 6 and his disadvantage in offensive skill, I predict Brown will play out his contract and will find a new home in July.

What are your thoughts Habs fans? Drop a comment in the section below and let us know your thoughts.