Will the Habs be Sellers or Buyers at the Trade Deadline?

The Montreal Canadiens are nearing the all-star break and their bye week which means general manager Marc Bergevin will soon have to make a decision on what direction the Habs will be going before the trade deadline.

It was reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Saturday night that Marc Bergevin and the rest of the Montreal Canadiens management will meet to decide on what to do regarding the team’s performance after the all-star break. With only a few games remaining until then, there are a few players that come mind that the Habs may move before the deadline hits on February 24th.

The names that come to mind when thinking of who Marc Bergevin could move at the deadline to acquire assets are Nate Thompson, Jordan Weal, Nick Cousins and the recently acquired Ilya Kovalchuk and Marco Scandella.

The Montreal Canadiens would be able to acquire a variety of draft picks for these players although they may vary in quality. Nick Cousins and Jordan Weal can fill depth roles on playoff contenders. Claude Julien uses these two in situations that they would not be asked to fill on a better, or healthier team, so it is hard to gauge their value, but they could fetch late round picks.

Nate Thompson can play an important role on a contender’s fourth line by winning faceoffs and playing an aggressive game. When Thompson was traded to the Canadiens from the Los Angeles Kings, he was acquired for a fourth-round pick in 2019. It would be fair to say he could fetch the same if not another pick to go with it based on his play this season.

Thompson would be a difficult to player to move on from because you can tell he’s loved in the locker room and that he too loves playing in Montreal. But if the Habs do decide to become sellers, which is very likely, they will look to move most of their veterans, especially those on expiring contracts.

Based on his play the last four games, Ilya Kovalchuk has been one of those low-risk, high-reward signings that looks to have brought new life to a Canadiens team riddled with injuries to their winger depth.

So far with the Montreal Canadiens, the 36-year old has shown that he can still be effective at the NHL level and can help bolster a team’s offense if given good linemates.

Even though you can see he has slowed down since his prime years, the one thing that has yet to fade is his shot, something Canadiens fans will surely be seeing more of after his overtime goal against the Senators and something that can help another team if the Canadiens go the selling route.

Another player who was acquired around the same time as Ilya Kovalchuk who can be moved at the deadline is defenceman Marco Scandella. Since his arrival, the Habs penalty-killing has seen a significant improvement making Scandella a hard player to part ways with, especially considering the fact that he is a Montreal native who, like Thompson, has shown that he loves playing for the Habs.

Is Selling a Certainty?

With the all-star break and their bye week nearing, if the Habs start amassing more points, buying may be on Marc Bergevin’s agenda after deciding on what to do. The Canadiens have 11 draft picks in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft if they were to go this route.

As bad as things may have gotten during the long losing streaks, the one thing that was noticeable in each game was that there was no quit by the players and even instances where they were outplaying the opposition by large margins. The 2-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Monday night saw a vintage performance by Carey Price and the Habs playing a full 60-minute game, building on their win against the Ottawa Senators.

There is also the chance that we see Jonathan Drouin who has been out since November along with Joel Armia, Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher. A healthy Habs lineup coming off of a few wins could be the big momentum shift the team has been looking for to make a push for the playoffs.

It is more likely that the Habs will be sellers when the time comes. However, a few more wins before their break and they could decide to wait until this team is healthy to see what they really have before trading away anyone.