Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Jeff Gorton Will Be Motivated To Acquire Via Trade

Vitali Kravtsov

We often see new general managers acquire a few players that they are familiar with from a previous stop in their career. In Gorton’s case, that means most of the past decade of drafted players from the Rangers organization.

Gorton would be quite familiar with any player that was selected by the Rangers recently, and would obviously think highly of them if he was part of the management team that decided to use a draft pick on a particular player.

One player who has fallen out of favour a bit with the Rangers, and is certainly available via trade, is Vitali Kravtsov.

The Russian winger was the 9th overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. The Rangers, as is Gorton’s tendency, went with speed and skill with this pick, ignoring the often overblown Russian factor.

Yet, fast forward a couple of years and sure enough, Kravtsov is back in Russia playing in the KHL after failing to make the Rangers team out of training camp. He would have stuck around North America if he were playing at the NHL level, but when he was demoted he refused to go down and ultimately headed back to play for Traktor Chelyabinsk.

He is playing quite well for them too. He has five goals and eight points in 11 games so far this season, after scoring 16 goals and 24 points in 49 games for the same time last year during the NHL lockout.

Kravtsov only had four points in 20 career NHL games but was playing a very depth role with Kevin Rooney and Brett Howden being his most frequent linemates.

He is still just 21 years old and has a ton of skill. He is a big winger, and though the Habs biggest need isn’t at wing, we could see quite the rebuild here in the coming months. If a couple of veteran wingers are moved out, it would make a lot of sense for Gorton to acquire Kravtsov, a player he is very familiar with from their time together with the Rangers.

It wouldn’t cost a ton either. If the Habs sell off a few veterans and add a handful of draft picks, moving a second rounder for Kravtsov would be a smart move.

Dylan Strome

Gorton does not have a history with Dylan Strome, but he traded for his brother Ryan when his value was at its lowest and it turned out great for the Rangers. It is quite possible that Gorton could be feeling a bit of deja vu when he sees Dylan Strome on the trade block.

Ryan Strome was a fifth overall pick in 2011. He had some success early in his career, scoring 50 points in his second NHL season, but he was struggling in 2018-19 with just two points in 18 games. He was 25 years old and had just 94 points in his previous 240 games with the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers.

Gorton traded Ryan Spooner to the Oilers for Strome who would score 33 points in 63 games the rest of the season with the Rangers. Since then, he has clicked and put up 125 points in 145 games played.

His brother Dylan is going through quite a slump this season. He has just two goals and four points in 15 games which is pretty similar to the rock bottom Ryan hit with the Oilers. Dylan also has a 50 point campaign in his past, putting up 57 points, including 51 points in 58 games with the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2018-19.

Dylan was the third overall pick in 2015 and is still just 24 years old. He has shown some serious offensive potential in the past, but just can’t get it going with the Blackhawks over the past two seasons.

It worked out quite well for Gorton when he acquired a Strome a couple year ago. It will surely be quite tempting to try and repeat the feat and steal another Store before his breakout.

Alexis Lafreniere

Okay, file this one under extremely unlikely to occur, but Gorton must have been extremely excited when the New York Rangers won the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery and jumped all the way up to grab the first overall pick.

Everyone knew that season that the first overall pick would be Alexis Lafreniere. The high scoring left winger out of the QMJHL was ranked the best prospect in the world by everyone heading into that draft.

The odd playoff setup that season, brought upon by the cancellation of the end of the regular season and an extended postseason, left many Habs fans drooling over the fact they could end up with the first overall pick and draft a homegrown star to build the team around.

That didn’t work out, and though it surely will in the future, Lafreniere hasn’t really worked out to expectations so far for the Rangers. He has just five goals and six points in 23 games this season after putting up 21 points in 56 games as a rookie last season.

Obviously it is too early for the Rangers to put the 20 year old on the trade market. It is extremely unlikely that Gorton would ever be able to pry him away from the Rangers, but he must have been thrilled to add Lafreniere to his team less than two years ago.

Lafreniere would be an immediate fan favourite in Montreal and a star in the making on the wing. It might be impossible to find a trade that makes sense for the Rangers, but that won’t stop Gorton from trying.