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Montreal Canadiens Should Add Draft Picks By Taking On Bad Contracts

By Ken MacMillan

VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 17: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens shoots the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during NHL action at Rogers Arena on December 17, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 17: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens shoots the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during NHL action at Rogers Arena on December 17, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images) /
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CALGARY, AB – DECEMBER 19: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens in action against the Calgary Flames during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 19, 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB – DECEMBER 19: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens in action against the Calgary Flames during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 19, 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images) /

Using cap space got them Armia, why not do it again?

Obviously, the team could decide to trade some veterans who are not unrestricted free agents this summer. However, we have to assume the team is trying to compete next year and want to keep Jeff Petry and Tomas Tatar around in the event they could actually make the playoffs in 2021.

One asset that the Canadiens have that most other teams in the NHL do not is cap space. A quick glance at capfriendly.com shows there are 14 teams who will have less than a million dollars in cap space at season’s end. Many of these teams are chasing a Stanley Cup this year and will be looking to acquire some help to do so.

The Canadiens need to call these teams up and tell them they can send their overpriced players to Montreal – at a cost of course. Since these teams are in a bit of a bind, and everyone in the Eastern Conference can see that the Tampa Bay Lightning just remembered how to play hockey, they will be looking to add depth at every position and need cap space to do so.

In order to do that, they can send a player to Montreal, with a draft pick or a young player attached so the Habs get a little something out of this as well. Then, the other team can afford to bring in an NHL player that can help them in their pursuit of glory.

We have seen these types of trades a few times before now. In fact, we have seen the Montreal Canadiens take part in these types of trades before. On June 30, 2018 the Habs sent Simon Bourque to the Winnipeg Jets for Steve Mason, Joel Armia, and 4th and 7th round draft picks.

In essence, the Canadiens acquired a bad contract (Mason) that the Jets wanted off their books. So did the Canadiens as they immediately bought him out. For their troubles, the Habs also received middle and late round picks as well as an intriguing player who hadn’t broken out with the Jets.

The Canadiens should be on the phone over the next six weeks, trying to make a similar trade. They have lots of cap space they won’t be using, so why not flex their financial muscles a bit and take on a contract of an overpaid player for a quarter of a season so they can add some draft capital as well?

More specifically, what would this kind of a trade look like? What teams would be interested in giving up a draft pick to free up cap space? Well, going back to capfriendly.com, close to half the league are going to need to get creative if they want to add anyone of significance at the deadline.

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