A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points on Eric Staal, Cole Caufield, Lines, Jesse Ylonen

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 17: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens and Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skate against each other during the second period at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 17: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens and Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skate against each other during the second period at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 7
Next
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 28: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens takes the puck in the third period against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an exhibition game prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on July 28, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 28: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens takes the puck in the third period against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an exhibition game prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on July 28, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /

3. Trade to come?

Bergevin explicitly said that the team has no dead-weight contracts a few weeks ago and that he would not pay a draft pick/prospect to get rid of a player. He also explicitly said that the Habs would almost certainly not make any significant trades this season, which he proceeded to do 24 hours later.

The Habs’ cap situation is very tight at the moment and shedding a contract would go a long way in alleviating that pressure. The obvious player to try to offload would be Paul Byron, who carries a $3.4 million cap hit for another two years after this season and is already being pushed out of the team’s starting lineup. I think it would be better to offload him now, while he’s still playing games, rather than trading him when he’s stapled to the press box.

Byron was a great third liner for multiple seasons with the Habs, and could likely still be quite serviceable in that kind of role, the fourth line just isn’t for him. He has passed through waivers twice in the past month and a bit, which would indicate that Montreal will certainly need to add an incentive for any team to take him on.

Ottawa seems like the perfect fit as Byron grew up there, they have tons of cap space and they could use his veteran presence and speed. As I mentioned in talking point #1, this year’s draft is a crapshoot and the class is extremely weak, so this would be the year to give up a pick to gain cap flexibility in the short and medium-term. I suspect a 3rd would get it done, but if it needs to be Tampa Bay’s 2nd, that’s fine.

Other options to clear up cap space for this season include trading away Artturi Lehkonen, who certainly has value for a prospect or left defenceman at a lower cap hit, and trading away Jordan Weal for any draft pick. This second option would really just offer the Habs a little more wiggle room, but the squeeze would remain tight for the season, which is why I am partial to offloading Byron.

Home/Editorials