Montreal Canadiens: A Possible Trade Partner in Edmonton

The Montreal Canadiens are looking for anything to change their season around and many believe a trade is coming. Perhaps Edmonton could be a future trade partner.

It’ll still be another couple of days before the Montreal Canadiens see action on the ice again. Something has to give, and it’s getting to the point where fans believe a potential change to the roster is coming up soon.

There are pieces on the team who would be a tough sell while the Habs could get a decent return for others. The team’s issue has exceeded just goal scoring so it’s difficult to think that a single trade could help. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if all it took was one trade.

Elliotte Friedman proposed an interesting idea Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada. Keeping in mind that this was just a thought and not a rumour, Friedman mentioned how the Edmonton Oilers have been looking for a winger to add more offence to the roster. He said that if he were the Oilers, he would call the Montreal Canadiens and ask about Max Pacioretty.

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Although he’s knee-deep in slump, the team’s captain is a prolific goal scorer. The Oilers have a little less cap space than the Habs do and could afford to make any kind of deal at the moment.

So let’s play with this idea a bit. What would a trade with the Oilers featuring Pacioretty look like? You have to think at least Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be coming the other way. He’s an offensive center who has made improvements in his overall game over the years. Additionally, the 24-year-old will probably be the odd man out once the team’s cap situation becomes a problem.

Considering the state of the team, moving Pacioretty out may not be the best idea unless others in the organization could fill that role. At the same time, he’d be a large part of the Canadiens’ bounce back if he can deal with his own shortcomings.

The two team’s have history trading with each other. Jeff Petry is a large part of the blueline and it was a trade with the Oilers that got him to Montreal. It’ll be interesting to see if Friedman’s idea, or a variant of it, takes place at some point in the future.

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