Canadiens: Three Trades To Make With Seattle Kraken To Keep Jake Allen

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Montreal Canadiens plans for this season were to compete for a Stanley Cup and not worry about much else.

That’s a solid plan for any NHL team and the offseason acquisitions made by Marc Bergevin have turned out quite well. He brought in Josh Anderson who brings an element of speed, size and skill that is difficult to find in one player.

Tyler Toffoli has been excellent all season. Corey Perry plays a terrific role on the fourth line and power play. Joel Edmundson has been asked to handle an enormous load and has done so admirably.

Perhaps most importantly, was the addition of Jake Allen. The Canadiens finally decided to invest in a backup goaltender that could be counted on to take some of the burden off Carey Price’s shoulders. Allen has done that and then some. With Price injured for most of the month of April, Allen made his 13th start of the month last night.

Allen has kept the Habs in games every night, though they haven’t provided much offence. Allen’s 2.50 GAA and .913 SV% aren’t Vezina Trophy numbers, but they are far superior from anything we have seen from Price’s recent backups. Especially since he has played 22 of their 47 games this season.

The Habs finally found a backup that can fill in for Price when he needs a rest and also carry the team if Price is hurt.

The only problem is, it might be difficult to keep him around. Allen signed a two-year extension that kicks in next season at only $2.875 million per season. That’s incredible value for what Allen brings, and it would be terrific if he played out those two years in Montreal.

However, the Seattle Kraken expansion draft is this July and they are surely going to have their sights set on Allen. Every team in the league is allowed to protect one goaltender from expansion and not many teams have a second goaltender that would be as attractive to an expansion team as Jake Allen.

So, how can the Habs keep Allen for next season? They will have to work out a trade with the Kraken. Let’s take a look at three offers that could entice Seattle to take someone else off the Habs hands.

Ben Chiarot

The Canadiens already have a plethora of free agent forwards. Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar, Joel Armia, Corey Perry and Eric Staal are all unrestricted free agents at season’s end. It wouldn’t be great to lose them all, and they probably won’t, but a little extra cap space, would help the team find room for a couple of them.

One way to add a little more cap space would be to have the Kraken take Ben Chiarot. While the Canadiens could lose a number of forwards following this season, they have basically their entire defence group locked up. The only pending free agents on the blue line are the two trade deadline acquisitions, Erick Gustafsson and Jon Merrill.

Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Alexander Romanov and Brett Kulak are all under contract for at least one more season.

With Cale Fleury, Josh Brook and Otto Leskinen already pushing for NHL time and Jordan Harris, Mattias Norlidner and Jayden Struble not far behind them, the Habs are in a position where losing a defenceman is much easier to digest than losing a forward.

Heading into next season, Ben Chiarot is in the last year of his deal. He is a big, defensive blue liner who has an acceptable cap hit at $3.5 million. He has played huge minutes, to some success, in two seasons with the Canadiens.

His minutes could already stand to be reduced, and could be replaced altogether just by re-signing Jon Merrill to a modest contract for next season. Or, even better, Romanov just jumps up into the top four and the Habs have Romanov, Edmundson and Kulak on the left side of the blue line.

Chiarot offers some value to the Kraken as he could eat minutes for the first half of the season but is the type of defenceman that is valuable at every trade deadline. If the Kraken struggle, they could easily flip him near the end of next season for a third or possibly even second round pick from a desperate team.

For doing the Habs the “favour” of taking Chiarot and leaving Jake Allen alone, the Canadiens include a decent prospect in Gianni Fairbrother and a late draft pick as compensation.

Paul Byron

The Montreal Canadiens don’t have many bad contracts at forward, but if there is one that they would like to get rid of, it is Paul Byron’s. He has two more years left after this one with a cap hit of $3.4 million.

Byron is a fast skater and a decent bottom six forward, but he doesn’t put the puck in the net the same way he used to. There is no question he was a steal being picked up off waivers and far outperformed his first contract with the Habs that had a cap hit of just under $1.2 million, but when his salary tripled, his production dipped.

Byron has just four goals and 14 points in 44 games this season. He still kills penalties, is a valued leader and plays a smart defensive game. But at his contract, he needs to put a few pucks in the net to justify the dollar amount.

The Canadiens could lose a lot of key forwards to free agency this offseason and could use a few extra million dollars to try and entice Tatar or Danault into staying for a few more years. Getting Byron off the books would certainly help in that way.

Maybe the Kraken view a guy like Byron as a perfect mentor for some of the other “castaways” that are going to end up in Seattle. Byron was placed on waivers by the Flames and then scored at a 20 goal pace for the Habs for three consecutive years, earning a nice contract in the process.

On an expansion team that will be filled with guys that weren’t valued enough by their previous teams to be protected, Byron could be a perfect mentor to have in the room.

Still, to get the Kraken to pick Byron instead of Allen is going to cost the Canadiens. A high draft pick and a decent prospect would probably be enough if the Kraken see value in Byron being an emotional leader for their team next season.

Shea Weber

The biggest contract that the Canadiens may want to go away is Shea Weber’s. He still has five years left with a cap hit just under $8 million. He is also 35 years old and slowing down offensively, not to mention his skating.

Weber’s 19 points in 47 games this season represent the first time he has averaged less than half of a point per game since 2008. He still scored the odd goal on a booming slap shot from the point like he did against the Calgary Flames, but it isn’t as often as he once did. He also spends far more time chasing players like Johnny Gaudreau around the ice because he just can’t keep up.

The condensed schedule this year has definitely shone a brighter light on Weber’s lack of speed, but it is just natural for a player his age to lose a step.

Weber’s contract may become attractive for … uhhh…. more frugal teams after the 2021-22 season. At that point, he will have four years left on his deal, but will only earn a total of $6 million in that time. Maybe the Ottawa Senators will want him then, or the Arizona Coyotes to get them to the cap floor.

But if he struggled again next year, the Habs would be really stuck with that cap hit for four more years.

This expansion draft might be the last chance to unload the contract, but it wouldn’t be taken away for nothing.

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