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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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ST. LOUIS, MO. – DECEMBER 18: Edmonton Oilers center Sam Gagner (89) during an NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues on December 18, 2019, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo. Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO. – DECEMBER 18: Edmonton Oilers center Sam Gagner (89) during an NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues on December 18, 2019, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo. Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Edmonton Oilers

Perhaps the Habs just don’t want to deal with a division rival. We often hear of teams not wanting to make trades within their own division, so maybe trying to acquire a good prospect from the Maple Leafs just won’t work out. Maybe the Habs will have to look west to find a bad contract to take on.

Luckily (for the Habs) there are terrible contracts all over the league. Not all of the worst contracts are currently in Edmonton, but most of them at least past through town.

The Oilers are in an odd spot for their franchise and that is a playoff spot. Okay, I kid, but they have publicly stated they will be patient, but they also have a chance to win a bad division and might be tempted to add at the deadline.

Except, of course, they need to find the money before they can add. They desperately need depth scoring and would love to acquire a player like J.G. Pageau or Chris Kreider, but they don’t have the cap space. They do have Sam Gagner eating up over $3 million and he has one goal in 22 games played.

If the Oilers can work out a trade for Kreider, a side deal of Gagner and a third round pick in 2021 to Montreal just to clear up the cap space would be worth the added price.

Vancouver Canucks

I don’t know if the Canucks will be desperate enough this year to give up a prospect just to save some money. However, just like the Oilers, they are in a wide open division and haven’t had much playoff success lately. If the right deal were to come along, they could be tempted to pull the trigger, as long as they can clear the necessary cap space first.

The player they would most like to get rid of is Sven Baertschi. He was placed on waivers earlier this season and sent to the AHL. He is playing well for the Utica Comets, with 32 points in 26 games, but is costing close to $2.5 million against the Canucks cap. In their current financial situation, if they wanted to add a top six winger so that Loui Eriksson no longer plays that role, they couldn’t quite pull it off.

Enter the Montreal Canadiens. They will take your Sven Baertschi as long as you sweeten the deal. Since Baertschi has another year on his contract it would be a little more costly. Perhaps Baertschi, Tyler Madden and a fifth round pick would be worth it for both sides.

This would allow the Canucks the freedom to add a top six scorer, and would give the Habs an interesting prospect who currently plays with Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble at Northeastern. Madden was a third round picking 2018 and has 30 points in 21 NCAA games during his second college season.

Next. No need to rush Gallagher back from injury. dark

The Habs have gone down this road before and it resulted in Joel Armia emerging as a power play threat and top six scorer before being injured. There is no need in having unused cap space at the end of the year, so why not use the same strategy before the trade deadline?

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