Montreal Canadiens: Victor Mete Has Requested a Trade

Montreal Canadiens defenceman Victor Mete has not been able to get into the Habs lineup yet this season.

With the Canadiens adding Joel Edmundson as a free agent over the offseason and Alexander Romanov joining the team for his rookie campaign, Mete has been the odd man out, skating with the team as the number 7 blue liner, but never getting into game action.

The frustration has led him to request a trade from the team.

Mete was drafted in the 4th round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He made the Habs lineup in the 2017-18 season as a teenager and played 49 games, scoring seven points. He would play 71 games the following season and 51 last year, but he is yet to get a shift after the Habs first eight games of the current season.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN tweeted out that Mete’s agent Darren Ferris confirmed that the 22 year old defenceman would be better off moving on to a team where there is better opportunity.

After playing most of the past three seasons as a regular contributor, it is understandable that Mete would be frustrated by being a healthy scratch for every game so far.

The problem for the Habs is, what can you get for a smooth skating offensive defenceman that scored 11 points in 51 games last season? The answer: probably not a lot, which makes it unlikely the Habs want to make a deal.

While Mete is sitting as a healthy scratch, he does provide the team with excellent depth on the blue line. The Canadiens have been fortunate to remain healthy on defence thus far, but when the inevitable injury does occur, it would be great to have a skilled player like Mete to plug into the lineup.

In a year where the Canadiens are definitely going for it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to trade away your depth. Sure, Mete hasn’t played yet, but if Joel Edmundson gets hurt blocking a shot or Brett Kulak takes a hit and injures his shoulder, wouldn’t it be great to have Mete step in and play on the third pairing?

Yes, it would.

Marc Bergevin has worked hard to add depth to this team at all positions. He isn’t going to trade it away just because a young defenceman is frustrated with his playing time. Bergevin basically confirmed this when contacted by LeBrun last night.

While Mete’s agent Darren Ferris seemed to confirm the trade request, Bergevin denies it happened and flat out states that the trade will not happen.

While Mete is a veteran of 171 NHL games, he just finished his entry-level contract last season and signed a one-year deal worth $735,000 for this season. He will be a restricted free agent at season’s end and still isn’t even eligible for arbitration.

So, Bergevin holds all the cards. With all due respect to Mete, he isn’t Pierre-Luc Dubois so it will be difficult for him to force a trade. If Bergevin says he isn’t getting traded, there really isn’t anything Mete can do.

If I were to try and read all the tea leaves here, I would say that Mete is frustrated, as any skilled young player would be, and asked his agent if there is anything he can do. The agent talked to Bergevin and was told no, so he went public with a trade request to try and put pressure on the Habs to get Mete into the lineup.

Good luck trying to pressure Bergevin into a decision at this point in his tenure. He worked hard to build a deep and talented team, and that means a player like Mete has to wait his turn.

If former Hart Trophy winning, 1000+ game playing Corey Perry can sit and wait his turn, so can Victor Mete. Don’t expect a trade anytime soon.