Montreal Canadiens: Ben Chiarot Trade Value Increasing

Montreal Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot was thought to be more of a depth piece when he signed with the Habs in 2019.

The bruising blue liner inked a three year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.5 million. That put him basically at the average rate for an NHL regular, but he has played far more than the average skater since arriving in Montreal.

Chiarot almost immediately teamed up with Shea Weber to form the team’s top pairing, and while they had their fair share of ups and downs in two regular seasons, they came to play in the postseason.

Chiarot has averaged 22:38 per game since he joined the Canadiens which ranks 34th most in the league over the past three seasons. That put him in a tie with Cale Makar who is a Norris Trophy candidate for the Colorado Avalanche. Chiarot is certainly not a candidate for any year end awards but he has given the team plenty of value in the postseason.

In the 2020 playoffs, Chiarot played over 23 minutes per game and helped the Habs shut down Sidney Crosby in the opening round which the Canadiens won 3-1.

Chiarot was once again full value in the 2021 postseason, sliding in next to Weber on the top pairing on a nightly basis. Chiarot average 25:15 per game in the postseason, leading the team in ice time while keeping top scorers like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Kyle Connor, Nik Ehlers, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty almost completely off the scoresheet.

This season hasn’t gone particularly well for the Canadiens, and they appear to be on their way to being sellers at the trade deadline. Perhaps it is a little early to be looking ahead to the March trade deadline, but if the Habs fortunes don’t change they could get a great return for Chiarot.

The fact Chiarot has started finding the back of the net to begin this season doesn’t hurt either. Now, no one is going to pick up Chiarot and have him quarterback their power play, but general managers out there are going to look at the Canadiens blue line from last year’s playoffs and want to grab a piece that can help limit scoring chances against and punish opponent’s physically throughout a seven game series.

Chiarot can do that, and his four goals and five points to begin this season are a nice bonus to his trade value. Last season, Chiarot had just one goal and seven points in 41 games played. Before that, he would pretty consistently score at about a 20-25 point pace. After one season of non-existent offence, it is nice that Chiarot is reminding teams around the league he is capable of a little bit of offence.

Chiarot is far from a flashy offensive defenceman, but there is no question teams are going to value bringing in someone who played over 25 minutes per game en route to last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

Last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning gave up a first round pick and a third round pick for David Savard, who is now Chiarot’s teammate. Savard is a similar defensive defenceman, though he plays the right side. Chiarot is averaging nearly 3:30 more per game than Savard this season.

It will be interesting to see what the offers are for Chiarot if the trade deadline approaches and the Habs are still way out of the playoff picture. He is in the final year of his contract and the Canadiens will soon have to make room for Mattias Norlinder, Jordan Harris and Kaiden Guhle so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sign the 30 year old Chiarot to an extension.

It’s still early to make predictions, but a team like the Edmonton Oilers could use a shutdown defender to play third pairing with Tyson Barrie. The Calgary Flames value this type of defender with Darry Sutter as the coach and aren’t getting much value out of Nikita Zadorov right now. The New York Islanders lost Nick Leddy and Devon Toews over the past two seasons and though they are much different players, they are both left shooting defenders. The Boston Bruins are leaning pretty heavily on Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly on the left side. The L.A. Kings have lost a couple of top defenders in Drew Doughty and Sean Walker and could use a minute muncher on the back end.

It might sound crazy, but the trade deadline is always crazy, and the Canadiens would probably get a first and a third round pick for Chiarot, much like the Lightning received for Savard last season. That’s even if he doesn’t keep scoring a goal every third game.