Montreal Canadiens: Hypothetical Habs Trade With Every Metropolitan Division Team

New York Rangers

The Rangers are in a similar spot as the Habs. They wouldn’t have made the postseason if it were not for a global pandemic leading to 24 teams getting into the play-in series. However, the Rangers started to take things apart a couple years ago and are starting to bear fruit on their rebuild very quickly.

They will head into next season hoping to make the playoffs in a more legitimate fashion than they did this year. One way they could do that is by adding some depth down the middle.

The Rangers have terrific depth on right defence at the moment and also in goal. The Habs don’t need another NHL caliber goaltender since the acquisition of Jake Allen. But, the Habs could use a top four defenceman who will be around longer than Jeff Petry who has one year left on his contract.

The Rangers also could use a little more cap flexibility. They are in okay shape, but have Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux, Alexander Georgiev and Tony Deangelo as restricted free agents. Deangelo is an offensive defenceman who scored 53 points in 68 games this season. He could be the Habs power play quarterback.

To give the Rangers a little cap space, the Habs could agree to take on the final year of Brendan Smith’s $4.35 million contract. That would require an added incentive though…