Montreal Canadiens: Hypothetical Habs Trade With Every Atlantic Division Team

The Montreal Canadiens are far from finished making moves this offseason. Here is a trade they could make with every Atlantic Division team.

The Montreal Canadiens appear to be preparing to contend next season. At least they are going to try and make the roster better and make a push for the playoffs the old fashioned way for the first time since 2017.

They did technically make the postseason this year, but they were the 24th best team in the league before the NHL paused its schedule due to the global pandemic.

They have brought in a couple of recent Stanley Cup winners with the St. Louis Blues. Joel Edmundson was added and will likely slot into the lineup next to Jeff Petry on the second pairing. He should help on the penalty kill and will eat some minutes at even strength but he isn’t going to light up the scoresheet or run a power play.

The Habs also brought in Jake Allen. The goaltender played his entire career with the Blues up to this point and will now take on the second fiddle role behind Carey Price. He should help ease the heavy burden Price was carrying the past few years, especially in a season that won’t start until December or January and will have a condensed schedule.

But those two moves won’t be enough to make this team good enough to compete with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins. The Habs need a little more if they want to compete with the best teams in the business. Especially since two of the best teams in hockey are right in their division. The rest of the division is a little weak so a playoff spot is up for grabs, but a deep run will only happen if there are more reinforcements added.

So, we are going to help Marc Bergevin and show him what kind of trades he should be making. The Habs could really use a big, goal scoring right winger to help at even strength and on the power play. If they want to be really good they need a legit top pairing left defenceman.

Obviously this is just for kicks. We know Bergevin isn’t going to make all these trades, but it is interesting to scour the rest of the league and try to find trades that work for both sides. So, let’s continue our run through the league and finish off with the Atlantic Division.

It is a little tougher to make trades within the division, especially trades that involve star players. However, we committed to finding a trade that makes sense with every team in the league, so let’s wrap it up!

Boston Bruins

The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins do not link up for trades very often. In fact, Marc Bergevin has been the general manager for the Habs for eight years now and has not made a single trade with the Bruins. Not even like a 6th round pick this year for a 6th round pick next year kind of deal.

The last trade between the two sides was Patrick Traverse for Eric Weinrich back in 2001.

That is a long time to go without becoming trade partners. It is pretty obvious that the two sides really don’t want to help each other out. However, it could make sense now more than ever for the two teams to make a deal. That’s simply because one team has a huge need and the other team has a lot of options at that same position.

The Bruins look like they are going to lose Torey Krug to free agency. They also could lose Zdeno Chara to retirement. Both are left defencemen and would need to replaced for the Bruins to continue their contention window.

The Bruins could lose David Krejci to free agency in a year and Patrice Bergeron’s contract is up a year after that. They could look drastically different in two years time, so they need to act fast to contend for the 2021 Stanley Cup.

They are not going to find a top pairing left defender by trading with Montreal, but they could find a steady second pairing guy to play with Brandon Carlo. Carlo is a huge, physical right shot defender and could use a speedy left defenceman who likes to join the rush as his partner.

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a complete tire fire. They only have four forwards signed for next season and they are all overpaid. Jack Eichel is the biggest bargain on the team and he costs $10 million per year.

The one thing the Sabres do have is a plethora of defencemen. Like, they had way too many defencemen last season and not enough forwards who were NHL quality. They had to give Marco Scandella up for a fourth round pick because they couldn’t fit all their defenders on the roster. Scandella was traded a couple of weeks later for a second and a fourth round pick.

Anyway, the Sabres still have too many defenders. If the Canadiens are going to add a blue liner I would either want a top pairing left defenceman which would then lead to Brett Kulak and Victor Mete being traded. Or, a top four right defenceman which would then lead to Jeff Petry being traded.

This trade would be the latter. The Sabres acquired Brandon Montour from the Anaheim Ducks two years ago for a late first round pick and a decent prospect in Brendan Guhle. With Rasmus Ristolainen, Henri Jokiharju, Colin Miller and Montour on the right side, someone will likely have to go.

Would the Sabres move Montour within the division for a better prospect than they gave up for him and a slightly worse draft pick?

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings, much like the Buffalo Sabres, are a bit of a tire fire as well. They had one of the worst seasons we have ever seen in the salary cap era and need help everywhere. The only way to get out of this mess is to build through the draft.

There is no way the Red Wings are going to move a prospect, so Filip Zadina is out of the question. They only have one good forward line so Anthony Mantha isn’t coming home to Montreal either.

No, a trade with the Wings isn’t going to excite the Habs fan base. If these two teams can come together on a trade, it would be a reasonably priced depth veteran coming to Montreal and a draft pick heading back to Detroit.

Lots of Habs fans like to mock Bergevin for only ever acquiring fourth line forwards. This was certainly the case last time they were buyers at a trade deadline and added Steve Ott, Dwight King and Andreas Martinsen when they needed goal scoring. But, the Habs are pretty thin on depth forwards at the moment.

Remember Dale Weise, Jordan Weal and Alex Belzile playing in the postseason? Yeah, that’s because the Canadiens don’t have enough depth forwards at the moment. So, they acquire a right shot centre who can play on the fourth line from the Red Wings for a reasonable cost.

Ottawa Senators

There is not a lot to like when you look at the Ottawa Senators roster trying to find a trade. They have an enormous crop of excellent prospects and are sitting on seven picks in the first two rounds of the NHL Draft this year.

But, as a rebuilding team, why would they give any of that up?

They won’t, so you have to look for more of a veteran to make things work. There isn’t a lot to like there either. Bobby Ryan, Artem Anisimov and Nikita Zaitsev are all well overpaid and not that attractive. The Sens have a number of restricted free agents, so maybe they move one of them?

If they are going to do that, Anthony Duclair would be the player I’d target. He broke out last year scoring 23 goals and 40 points in 66 games. However, he stormed out to 20 goals in no time and then couldn’t buy a goal the second half of the season.

In his last 29 games, he had just two goals and eight assists. That is not very impressive, but it also means he had 21 goals in his first 37 games which is incredibly impressive. Even if he can just balance that production out and finish with 25 goals again next year, he would bring a lot of value.

The trouble is trying to figure out what his value is in a trade right now. The Duclair who played the first 37 games of the season is worth a boatload. The Duclair who played the last 29 games (and most of his career before that) isn’t worth nearly as much.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Okay, most of these trades have been pretty minor but this one won’t be. It is tough to make deals within the division so many of these trades are not exactly blockbusters, because that just isn’t realistic.

If any team is going to make a huge trade with the Habs this offseason, it would be the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is because the flat cap basically ruins the Lightning’s chances of keeping their team together. They are currently showing less than $5.5 million in space for next season and need to sign Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak.

And, the Habs have plenty of cap space so they can take on some money.

So, let’s say the Habs want to get Sergachev back after trading him for Jonathan Drouin. They also want to add another top six winger. Many of the best Lightning forwards have no-trade clauses but Alex Killorn does not.

The Canadiens could pressure Tampa Bay into this deal by threatening to offer sheet Sergachev on October 9th. The Canadiens could sign Sergachev to a contract with a cap hit as high as $6.5 million and the compensation going back to the Lightning would be first and third round picks in the 2021 NHL Draft.

That would be worth it for Sergachev. So, let’s say the Habs approach this by saying, give us Sergachev and Killorn for our first this year, second next year and Cale Fleury. Or, we just take Sergachev for first and third round picks next year because you can’t afford to match our offer.

This way, the Habs would know they are giving up a 16th overall pick instead of holding their breath they don’t win the draft lottery next season. Also, with Kevin Shattenkirk, Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn all UFAs on the right side, the Bolts could use a physical contributor on right defence.

Also, obviously the Habs get Killorn as well who would fit in well on pretty much any line.

Toronto Maple Leafs

I would propose Cole Caufield for Nick Robertson straight up. Or Rasmus Sandin for Alexander Romanov. But I don’t want to start a war between Habs fans and Leafs fans online. Also, the two Habs propsects I just mentioned are decidedly better than the two Leafs fans so they would be awful trades for Montreal.

Finding a deal that works for two teams that will be battling each other for a playoff spot next season is difficult. The Leafs are tight to the cap and are not going to move one of their high priced forwards to the Canadiens. They aren’t going to move them to anyone, but definitely not the Habs. Plus, they are all ridiculously overpaid anyway.

The Leafs are going to lose Cody Ceci and Tyson Barrie to free agency. Maybe they want a right defenceman in a deal? Jeff Petry would be a nice add for them but the Habs aren’t sending him to Toronto. Even one that can play depth minutes would help as the Leafs wouldn’t have to rush Timothy Liljegren into the lineup.

These two teams don’t often make trades with each other because of their rivalry. Maybe a couple of young players who could fit better on the other team get dealt for each other? It seems like that, or a swap of draft picks would be the only logical trade between these two franchises.