The Montreal Canadiens have dealt with an incredible number of injuries this season.
The team played quite poorly at the start of the season when they were mostly healthy, so it isn’t the reason they are sitting in last place, but it hasn’t helped.
One particular injury has led to the team not being able to take advantage of a wounded opponent.
The Edmonton Oilers started the season 16-5-0. Since then, they can barely win a game and they have already fallen outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference before hitting the midpoint of the season. They have gone 2-11-2 in their past 15 games to drop to 7th in the Pacific Division.
But the Oilers still have a chance of making the playoffs. Their 7th place standing is a little misleading since they have had so many games postponed. They are seven points back of the Los Angeles Kings who are in a playoff spot and the Oilers have played five less games. They have a chance and they have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl so they really have a chance.
What they need is better goaltending and more reliable defence. Their goalies have been awful lately as Mikko Koskinen has shown he can not be trusted to be the team’s number one goalie. Mike Smith hasn’t been much better and he seems to get injured every time he starts a game.
The problem for the Oilers there aren’t many reliable goaltenders available right now. Which team is going to trade a true starter at this point in the season? Marc-Andre Fleury has been in the rumour mill but are the Chicago Blackhawks going to trade him before the deadline in two months? Probably not since they will push for the postseason themselves until then.
Do they want Anton Khudobin and his .879 save percentage this season? Joonas Korpisalo and his .881 SV%? Thomas Greiss and his .894 SV%?Craig Anderson maybe, but he is just getting back from injury and has been out since November 2nd.
There really aren’t many options for a very desperate Oilers team. That’s why Jake Allen’s injury came at the worst possible time for the Canadiens.
Allen suffered a lower body injury against the Boston Bruins last week and he will be out for a total of eight weeks. The Oilers need a goalie and they need one now. If Allen were healthy, he might have represented the Oilers best option to upgrade their goaltending immediately.
The Oilers could also use reliable, defensive, defencemen. Imagine if Allen were healthy and they offered him and Ben Chiarot to the Oilers right now. The debate has been going on all season about whether or not Chiarot alone is worth a first round pick and most reporters and insiders believe that he is. Add Allen to that, and identify a desperate team like the Oilers and the Canadiens could have maximized their return for these two veterans.
They could even sweeten the deal by retaining half of Chiarot’s salary for the rest of the season. His cap hit is $3.5 million, so the Canadiens could eat $1.75 million of that. Allen’s cap hit for this season and next year is $2.875 million. That is a combined cap hit of $4.625 million.
To really sweeten the deal, the Canadiens could have taken Mikko Koskinen back in the trade, along with his $4.5 million cap hit. That would make the money basically even on both ends, but the Oilers would be getting a new starting goaltender, a top four defender who can play on the top penalty kill, and they would be moving out the entire contract of a struggling netminder.
There is no question the Oilers would be interested in a trade like this and they wouldn’t have any other options really to upgrade in goal.
It may sound like a lot, but given their circumstances, it wouldn’t be crazy to think the Oilers would give up their first round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a top prospect like Xavier Bourgault.
Maybe not Bourgault who was a first round pick last year, but the Oilers desperately need help to save this season. Certainly a 2022 first round pick and prospect Raphael Lavoie would have been a fair return, but the Canadiens likely could have squeezed the Oilers for an even better prospect.
If only Allen stayed healthy, but of course, no one on the Canadiens is staying healthy this season.