Montreal Canadiens: The price for Max Pacioretty is holding things up

Teams are calling the Montreal Canadiens to see what it would take to acquire Max Pacioretty, and there may be a waiting game if the price stays where it is.

It’s a little over three weeks before the NHL Trade Deadline. The names on trade bait lists are continuing to grow, and the prices for the players being made available are continuously being updated. The Montreal Canadiens have had their wants and needs in a Max Pacioretty trade, and we learned last night that it’s had another revision to it.

When it was first reported that the Habs were aggressively shopping Pacioretty, the ask was predominantly for a young scorer (probably with Pacioretty potential or PP if you will), and some smaller pieces. Then the demand moved to a young centre in return in any deal that included the 29-year-old.

According to Nick Kypreos, the Habs specifically want a first and second round pick as well as a roster player, or ‘warm body’ if you want to use that terminology, and a high-end prospect. We may have our good friends in Buffalo and Evander Kane to thank for this one. The price to acquire Kane hasn’t changed from it’s ‘first, conditional pick, roster player, prospect’ model, and it seems like Marc Bergevin wants to match or surpass that with the team captain.

It was also reported when the desire to officially trade Pacioretty came out that Bergevin will be willing to wait to get what he wants. This time, let’s thank Joe Sakic. Matt Duchene was on the trade block in Colorado for years before he was moved and the return made it worth it.

Cautious Buyers

Kypreos mentioned that other teams aren’t a fan of the price of some of these players including Pacioretty. It could go down in the upcoming weeks, but based on the feel of this situation, Bergevin may be more willing to keep him and revisit a trade in the summer.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie appeared on the final hour of Overdrive last Friday and said that other general managers are reluctant to give up a king’s ransom at the deadline anymore. Our third thank you for today goes to Martin Hanzal and the Minnesota Wild. No one wants to be the team that gives up a lot for a player and doesn’t do much with them in the playoffs, especially when they’re a pending free agent.