The Montreal Canadiens are selling defencemen
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens are trying to free up room on the blueline and reports say that Brandon Davidson is the one being made available.
The defence was a problem for the Montreal Canadiens at the beginning of the season. The forwards didn’t do much to help either, but the bulk of the team’s issues were coming from the blueline. Shea Weber and rookie Victor Mete stood out every night whereas the likes of Jordie Benn, Jeff Petry, and Karl Alzner looked shaky.
Things are different now, and it’s not just because of Carey Price. Benn has looked like himself from last season and is refraining from the bad turnover-costing play. Additionally, Petry has been solid since Weber’s injury, save for a few blemishes here and there. Unfortunately, Mete hasn’t developed from the passage of time, but he’s young, and he’ll get to where he wants to be physically.
The Montreal Canadiens currently have nine defencemen on their payroll. With David Schlemko and recent call-up Daniel Carr maximizing the 23-man roster limit, Weber had to be placed on injured reserve. However, he’s not going to stay injured forever, in fact, he could return very soon.
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Sending Mete back to junior seemed like the easiest choice, but it doesn’t look like that’s what the team wants to do right now. The Habs need to make room, and that means someone needs to be traded. Unfortunately, save for Mete, the two other options to be moved from the team are Joseph Morrow and Brandon Davidson.
Morrow’s been in 16 of the Habs 27 games played this season. He didn’t look good in his first few outings but has improved. It seems like Morrow has been Claude Julien‘s project for this year, and the signs are there. It’s a different story for Davidson.
Davidson on the Trade Block
According to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, the Montreal Canadiens let all 30 other teams in the NHL know via email that Davidson is available. The 26-year-old has played 13 games for the Habs and has been a healthy scratch for the rest of them.
He hasn’t done enough while playing to prove to the coaching staff that he’s deserving of another chance to play, and the addition of Schlemko and Jakub Jerabek to the team will make it hard for that to happen. However, Davidson does have value.
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He’s still relatively young, has a low cap-hit at $1.425 million, and is a controllable asset considering he’s a restricted free agent at the end of the season. As poor as Davidson has been, he’s not that bad where he would slip through waivers. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a team take a flyer on him if they had the chance.
Hence the trade block. This didn’t work out too well for Marc Bergevin the last time he made a defenceman available. Back then it was Mark Streit, and after a day of being made available, the Habs played him on regular waivers and then unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the Montreal Canadiens manage to find a trade partner for Davidson. The team originally acquired him last year from the Edmonton Oilers sending David Desharnais in return. His value has probably taken a hit since then, and it may be just a pick going the Habs way if a deal is done.
Making room on defence is the most important thing but will there be any biters?
Do you think the Habs will trade Davidson? What kind of return could they get for him? Let us know down in the comments.