The Montreal Canadiens have been busy this offseason. If they continue that trend, here are some moves they could look at.
The Montreal Canadiens have made a few moves already in the offseason. Since they lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs, the Habs added a couple of recent Stanley Cup champions via trade.
First, they acquired goaltender Jake Allen from the St. Louis Blues for a third round pick. Then, they added Joel Edmundson from the Carolina Hurricanes for a fifth round pick. Edmundson was a teammate of Allen in 2019 when the Blues won the Stanley Cup.
It could be the start of a very busy offseason for the Habs. They appear set on trying to contend next season, or at least get better, and will need a few more additions to ensure that is the case. The team still has 11 picks heading into the NHL Draft in early October. They could choose to keep all those picks or they could move some to help the team immediately.
So, we are going to try to help general manager Marc Bergevin out here. He has plenty of options to choose from to make his team better if he wants to go down that road. He could also look to package a couple of picks and move up in the draft to get a better prospect. He could look to dump a contract to get more cap space or he could take on a bad contract in order to get another solid prospect for the pipeline.
The possibilities are endless. We could see the Habs make a trade with anybody. So, we decided to give Bergevin some ideas. We are going to go division by division and try to find a trade with every single team in the league.
Obviously, this is just for fun and we don’t expect Bergevin to make 30 more trades this offseason. But, he will make a few more moves, so let’s try to find some realistic trades that the Habs could make with every team in the Pacific Division.
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are in a bit of a transition. They were a great team for over a decade, built around the tough, physical, two-way play of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Perry is playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the Dallas Stars this year and Getzlaf is heading into the final year of his contract.
It is time for the Ducks to hand the keys to the young players like Sam Steel and Trevor Zegras.
The Ducks have always had a deep crop of blue liners, but they also like to trade them away for some reason. Brandon Montour, Sami Vatanen, Shea Theodore, Jake Gardiner and Marcus Pettersson all came up with the Ducks, only to be traded away.
Why wouldn’t they trade one more?
Hampus Lindholm has two years left on his contract at just over $5.2 million. He is 26 years old and would want a huge pay raise after those two years. In order to let him go, the Ducks are going to want a huge payment.
If the Habs are really serious about contending next season, they need to add a top pairing left defenceman. Yes, they have Ben Chiarot and just brought in Joel Edmundson and have Alexander Romanov coming over next season. However, none of them can be expected to play top pairing minutes on a contending team.
Lindholm could. But it would cost a ton of future assets to get him in Montreal. He had 22 points in 55 games but he led the Ducks in average ice time with over 23 minutes per game.
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes are in a difficult position at the moment. Every team will be hurt by the global pandemic but the team trying to sell hockey in the desert to people who aren’t allowed inside the building have a particularly tough job to do.
Especially when that team traded a boatload of picks and future assets to the New Jersey Devils for Taylor Hall, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Add that to the fact they were stripped of a first and second round pick for violating rules around the draft combine and the Coyotes are devoid of draft picks.
They don’t have a pick until the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft and they don’t have a first or third round pick in 2021. They will also lose their second round pick that year if they re-sign Hall.
So, they will certainly be looking to add draft picks this year and they will also want to trade away as much salary as they can. They have a few options to complete that goal, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Darcy Kuemper’s names keep appearing in trade rumours.
It doesn’t make a ton of sense to trade two of their most important players, but Phil Kessel could be moved. He played one season in Arizona and was not at the top of his game. He is a skilled right winger who can score goals and excels on the power play. In other words, he fills a huge void on the Habs roster.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are in a similar spot as the Montreal Canadiens. Both teams have key veterans on the team who are aging. They think they are in a spot to contend soon. They have not had the results recently that would indicate they are good enough as currently constructed to compete right now.
That makes it difficult to find a perfect fit for a trade. But, the Flames are very deep on left defence and the Canadiens could use a partner for Shea Weber. Enter Noah Hanifin.
The 23 year old left defenceman is a terrific skater and has good size at 6’3″ and 215 pounds. He puts up some offence, as he has twice reached the 30 point plateau, but he isn’t exactly a power play quarterback. He can eat minutes on the left side and move the puck up ice quickly.
Even without Hanifin, the Flames are deep on the left side with Mark Giordano, Juuso Valimaki and Oliver Kylington. They still could bring back pending free agent T.J. Brodie as well. With Hanifin’s $4.95 million cap hit off the books, it would be easier to re-sign Brodie.
With Travis Hamonic a free agent as well, the Flames could use a right defenceman if they move Hanifin. They could also use some cap relief so they can try to upgrade their goaltending position or bring in another top six forward. There are a lot of areas of need. The best fit for the Flames might be to put together a couple of former London Knights.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a team that has two of the best players in the league but can’t seem to find the correct formula to make it all work. They have the elite talent and the scoring, but the defensive side of the game isn’t working.
The Oilers need to find some safer players to play in their lineup and also add some depth to the forward group. Their defence is getting better as youngsters like Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear arrive and Darnell Nurse takes on a bigger role.
What they could use is another reliable two-way centre who can be counted on to shut things down when the team has a lead. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are terrific players but they aren’t shutdown types.
Phillip Danault would be able to add some needed depth down the middle behind the top players and could be the team’s primary shutdown centre. The player that Montreal would want to get their hands on is Jesse Puljujarvi. The Finnish winger fell out of favour in Edmonton but has looked terrific since returning to Finland to play.
A big, skilled right winger would be a perfect fit with the Habs. His value is down some because it appears he doesn’t want to play in Edmonton, but the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft still has a ton of upside. It is hard to find the right value on Puljujarvi. He’s still young, is huge and skilled and looks great playing in Finland. So he should cost a lot.
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings team does not look great on paper, but their prospect pool is as deep and talented as any in hockey. They don’t have a lot of good veterans available as they traded most of them in the past few years for draft picks and prospects.
I was trying to find a trade involving Alex Turcotte to reunite him with Wisconsin Badgers teammate Cole Caufield. But it just wouldn’t make any sense for a rebuilding team like the Kings to trade away the 5th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. Then I thought about a Caufield trade to the Kings for Anze Kopitar or Drew Doughty but their contracts are ridiculous and that just wouldn’t make sense for the Canadiens.
Have I mentioned already how brutal the Kings roster is right now? No wonder they have the second overall pick.
I thought about adding Dustin Brown but he has two years left at a $5.875 cap hit. It wouldn’t makes sense for the Habs to take that on. Unless the Kings are willing to retain some salary…
Jeff Carter is in the same boat but he struggled more last season than Brown. Both are 35 years old and overpaid. Who are the rest of these people? Sean Walker just signed a four year contract? Trevor Moore is there. The Toronto media made him out to be the next Cam Neely when he played for the Leafs. Maybe he is good. Nevermind, just checked his actual stats and he’s terrible.
Okay, I don’t want any of these players except for the prospects who are 21 and younger. The Kings are not moving any of those guys. This is going to be a boring one.
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are in a weird spot. They have a lot of veterans tied up for a long time on huge contracts. They also were terrible last season. They are stuck with basically the same team that was not good enough to come close to the 24 team expanded postseason.
They would probably love a big shakeup trade, but a fit with the Canadiens is difficult to find. The Habs could use a left defenceman but Marc-Edouard Vlasic has six years left on a contract that comes with a $7 million cap hit. Yuck.
They could also use a scoring right winger but Timo Meier is not going anywhere. He is 23, signed for three more years and awesome. Why would the Sharks move their best young player when they need to rebuild?
Kevin Labanc is not quite in the same stratosphere as Meier, but he is a right winger who can put up points. He signed a one year contract at just a million bucks a year ago and is now a restricted free agent. He dipped to 33 points in 70 games after scoring 56 in 2018-19. Labanc would be my top target in San Jose, but just like Meier, why would the Sharks trade him? He is just 24 and had 56 points a year ago. They need all the young talent they can get.
The Sharks would be looking to move out veterans so they can open space for younger players and move the rebuild along. The Habs shipped out a number of veteran forwards at the trade deadline and could use a couple more for next season.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks went on a bit of a surprising run this postseason that ultimately ended with Thatcher Demko carrying them to Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights. Though they lost in the second round it was some valuable experience for a team that is led by young stars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
What the Canucks need is a little more depth and some cap relief. The Habs can help them with the cap relief for sure, but no one is touching Loui Eriksson’s contract with a ten foot pole.
The Canucks want to re-sign Tyler Toffolli who fit in well and Chris Tanev who are unrestricted free agents. They also need to find room for restricted free agents Jake Virtanen, Troy Stecher and Adam Gaudette. Their biggest free agent is Jacob Markstrom who was great for them this season and is a pending unrestricted free agent.
The Canucks have a handful of bad contracts and need to move one of them out to make room for everyone else. There also has been plenty of rumours that Brock Boeser could be on the way out and he is the goal scoring right winger that the Habs have been looking for.
The Habs have taken on bad contracts in the past to get a deal in their favour and could be looking to do the same here. Brandon Sutter has one year left on his contract at close to $4.5 million but is nothing more than a fourth line centre at this point in his career.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are the greatest expansion team in hockey history. They made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of existence and were pretty darn close to doing it again in year three. They need a little something to put them over the top and could use some cap relief as they try to sign Robin Lehner.
They have a solid top nine up front and a very respectable defence group though a top four right shot defender would be a nice addition.
Right shot defenders are hard to find but the Golden Knights have been bold in the trade market before. They traded top prospects and picks to add the likes of Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone to help solidify themselves as contenders.
Could they swing a big deal with the Habs again and land Jeff Petry? Yes, they could but with two rather large caveats.
One, the Golden Knights would need to find someone to take on Marc-Andre Fleury’s contract. And secondly, the Habs would need to find another top four defender in free agency or trade. Sami Vatanen perhaps? He could step in and be the second pairing right defenceman while the Habs acquire key future assets for Petry.
The Golden Knights are firmly in a window to win and Petry would help them. It would cost a ton though. Petry has just one year left but he has been more productive than Justin Faulk who cost the St. Louis Blues a regular contributor in Joel Edmundson and a top prospect in Dominik Bokk. Alec Martinez was acquired by the Golden Knights at the trade deadline for two second round picks.
Petry has more value than that, right?
Once again, these trade ideas are really just for fun. Obviously the Habs are not going to make 30 trades this offseason. However, it is fun to look at each team and try to come up with a potential trade that makes sense for both sides. So, here are eight potential trades the Habs can make with Pacific Division teams. Let us know what you think in the comments!