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Montreal Canadiens: Three Trades That Add Future Piece Without Giving Up Anything

By Ken MacMillan

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 19: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 19: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 29: Brandon Sutter (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 29: Brandon Sutter (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks have slowly but surely put themselves into one of the toughest cap situations in the league. Every year they sign more and more veteran free agents who basically do the same thing and they have seen their cap room diminish completely.

Now, they have a couple of key players like Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev and Tyler Toffolli about to become unrestricted free agents and not enough room to keep them all. That doesn’t even factor in next offseason when they will have to re-sign superstars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

I haven’t checked every team in the league, but there is no way any team in the league is paying more for forwards that aren’t top six forwards than the Vancouver Canucks. Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle Micheal Ferland and Sven Baertschi combine to earn more than $23 million. They also combined to score 24 goals at the NHL level last season.

A million bucks per goal is good money if you can get it. Just call Jim Benning, he’ll probably make an offer.

So, the Canucks need to shed at least one if not more of these forwards. The Canadiens could take one Sutter for a little incentive but he only has one year left and he makes less than $4.5 million so they aren’t getting a first round pick in that deal.

If they want to steal a first round pick away from the Canucks, they are going to have to take on more than the Red Wings did with Marc Staal. His cap hit is $5.7 million and the Wings received a second round pick in 2021 for taking that nasty contract.

The Habs would have to be willing to take on two of those aforementioned forwards if they want a first round pick from the Canucks. That is a lot to give up for Vancouver, but it is also a lot for the Habs to take on to their cap situation.

Next. First Round Targets for Habs. dark

It would be risky. But Beagle could still play a fourth line role, he’s just overpaid for the role. Baertschi scored over a point per game at the AHL level last season, so he could fill in when injuries occur, he is just vastly overpaid for that position. For their troubles, the Canadiens have an additional first round pick in 2021 (a draft they will likely host.)

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