Montreal Canadiens: Hypothetical Habs Trade With Every Metropolitan Division Team

The Montreal Canadiens have been busy this offseason. If they continue that trend, here are some moves they make.

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 continue our tour around the league and find a trade with every team in the Metropolitan Division that makes sense for both sides.

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 teams in the Metro Division.

Carolina Hurricanes

Does Sebastian Aho finally get what he wanted and become a Montreal Canadiens player? No? Not yet anyway.

If the Habs can’t get Aho from the Hurricanes, they could look to add some more unique prospects. The Canes are a solid team that has a chance to make the playoffs again next year and won’t be looking to sell their veteran players. Of course, there is the chance they need to offload a few dollars here and there, but many teams could be in that same situation.

So, instead of trying to land a big money player like Aho or Dougie Hamilton, the Canadiens get creative. The Hurricanes have two prospects that have bothers who are young players in the Habs organization. Ryan Suzuki is a skilled, playmaking centre like his brother Nick and Haydn Fleury is a physical, defensive defenceman like his brother Cale.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the Canadiens could have all four in their system? It would require a good prospect centre and defenceman going back to Carolina.

Columbus Blue Jackets

If the Canadiens have a top need right now it is for a physical, goal scoring right winger. They could use other pieces like a legit top pairing left defenceman or some physical wingers for the third or fourth line that can chip in 15 goals or so, but a top six winger that has size, speed and scoring touch would be ideal.

The Blue Jackets are not short on players with size and physicality. They aren’t the highest scoring team in the league, but they might be the most intimidating.

They have a really interesting piece that could be available this offseason. Josh Anderson had a monster season in 2018-19. He imposed his will physically on a regular basis and set career highs offensively with 27 goals and 47 points. He is big at 6’3″ and 215 pounds and is a right shot, right winger. He checks all the boxes for the Canadiens.

At least, the 2018-19 version of him does.

The 2019-20 version of Josh Anderson was a lesser player. He scored just one goal and four points in 26 games. He battled injuries and did not return to play in the postseason at all. But if he is healthy when the puck drops on the 2020-21 season, he would be a great addition to the Habs lineup.

It is difficult to find the right price for Anderson. Is he a 25 goal scoring, physical winger who belongs in the top six? Or is he a one-goal scoring winger who struggled most of this season?

Hard to say what he is until we see him fully healthy again. He is also a restricted free agent and that makes trading for him risky, but it could be well worth it for a team like the Canadiens.

New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils struggled this season and haven’t played a game since March. They were supposed to be good, with P.K. Subban coming in to join first overall pick Jack Hughes on the Taylor Hall led team.

Subban struggled mightily, Hughes took some time to adjust to the NHL and Hall was traded along with Blake Coleman, Wayne Simmonds and Andy Greene at the trade deadline.

One player that didn’t struggle was Kyle Palmieri. He went about his business, scoring at a 30 goal and 50-55 point pace like he always does. The 29 year old has decent size, is a right shooting right winger and has proven to be a 30 goal threat each of the five seasons he’s played with the Devils.

He is entering the final year of his contract and could be the next veteran shipped out of town for picks and/or prospects. He had 25 goals and 45 points in 65 games so he wouldn’t be given away, but with one year left on his deal he wouldn’t command an enormous price tag either.

Palmieri can find the back of the net on the power play which is a huge need for the Habs. He could slot in on a second line with Jonathan Drouin and either Nick Suzuki or Jesperi Kotkaniemi down the middle and give the Canadiens a legit 30 goal guy.

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders went on a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Final this year. When you look at the Metropolitan Division, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals jump out at you as the best teams, but it was the Isles that outlasted everyone else in the division this postseason.

They will certainly be hoping for more next season and have a really interesting new goaltender in Ilya Sorokin. His numbers in the KHL were every bit as ridiculous as Igor Shesterkin’s and he was dynamite for the Rangers this season. If Sorokin can repeat that feat, the Islanders have a potential Vezina winner in the blue paint.

They also play a stifling defensive style which will help their new netminder. There is a bit of a changing of the guard taking place on that blue line and it could push a veteran out. Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews have taken on huge roles over the past two seasons, and it is time to pay them.

Pulock and Toews are restricted free agents right now, as is superstar centre Matthew Barzal. Pelech needs a new contract in a year.

The Isles are already tight to the cap and need to move out money to make room for Barzal, Pulock and Toews this offseason. The Habs have money and could use a legitimate top pairing defender to play with Shea Weber.

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…

Philadelphia Flyers

Marc Bergevin is so accustomed to trading for left defencemen who love to block shots that he might acquire Andrew MacDonald’s buyout money from the Flyers.

Okay, proabably not. But if he hadn’t signed Joel Edmundson this offseason or Ben Chiarot last offseason, he would be looking to acquire Samuel Morin or Robert Hagg from the Flyers right now. But there just isn’t a need for another third pairing left defenceman, is there?

The Flyers had a great regular season and finally have the goaltending situation figured out with Carter Hart. They will be looking to make a deep run next season so they aren’t looking to move out a player like Travis Konecny or Sean Couturier.

They might look to move Shayne Gostisbehere but again, he’s a depth left defenceman who was a healthy scratch in the postseason and has three years left on his contract at $4.5 million per season. No thanks.

It is hard to find a match between a contender like the Flyers and the Habs who are a team looking to improve their roster. Bergevin does like to hoard draft picks. Maybe he can come to terms on a deal during the first round that gives the Canadiens an extra pick in the second round.

Pittsburgh Penguins

I didn’t think a team woudl overpay for a restricted free agent like Max Domi but then I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins trade a first round pick and a decent prospect for Kasperi Kapanen. That’s when I realized the Pens organization doesn’t care about prospects at all and just wants to win again before Evgeni Malkin goes to Russia in two years and never comes back.

So, the Pens go after a skilled, but gritty player in Max Domi. He could fit in well in the top six on a wing with Sidney Crosby or Malkin or he could centre the third line and be an upgrade on Jared McCann in that role.

Either way, Domi makes the Penguins a better team for the next two years while Malkin is still under contract. Domi is also a much better hockey player than Kapanen, so he would cost even more.

Let’s say instead of a first round pick and a decent prospect, it costs an even better prospect, a second round pick and a recently signed college player that could add some depth at the NHL level in the near future.