Montreal Canadiens: Could a Jeff Petry for Filip Zadina Trade Work?

The Montreal Canadiens are 32nd overall in the NHL standings and will surely be entering sellers mode in the next two months.

The trade deadline is not until March 21st, but the Habs could go undefeated between now and then and still have zero chance at making the playoffs.

The players on the last year of their current contracts are sure to be traded. Ben Chiarot, Mathieu Perreault, Brett Kulak and Cedric Paquette will be traded to whoever offers the most for them.

But what about the players on longer term deals? The Canadiens are actually pushing up against the cap next season and would likely want to move out a few players with term. One player that will likely be okay with a deal would be veteran Jeff Petry.

Petry is in just the first year of a four year contract, but he thought he was signing on with a contending team. Instead, he is on the worst team in the league. His cap hit of $6.25 million doesn’t make him the highest paid defender so it won’t be impossible to deal him.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan native is 34 years old and signed for three more years beyond this season. He is also not having the best year of his career. After scoring 12 goals and 42 points in 55 games last season, and playing huge minutes on the blue line of the Stanley Cup finalist, Petry has just one goal and five points in 34 games this season.

So, his trade value isn’t gone, but it is a lot lower than it would have been in July when he was fresh off a great showing in the postseason.

It is unlikely a team would be willing to offer a first round pick for Petry because of his age and contract. So, the best return the Habs could hope for would be a young player that is in need of a change of scenery. Essentially, who could be this year’s Sam Bennett?

Bennett was a 4th overall pick of the Calgary Flames but just never broke out offensively in Calgary. He set career highs of 18 goals and 36 points in his rookie season and then never had more than 13 goals or 27 points again.

He was traded to the Florida Panthers last season and immediately found his scoring touch. He has only played 43 games with the Panthers, but has scored 24 goals and 41 points in that time. He also had five points in five playoff games last season.

What young player that is struggling could be made available via trade? Filip Zadina comes to mind.

He was the player many fans wanted with the third overall pick in 2018 that turned out to be Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Zadina fell to 6th in that draft, but hasn’t really panned out for the Detroit Red Wings to date. Two years ago he had 16 points in 21 games at the AHL level. Last season he scored 14 points in 17 pro games in Czech Republic.

However, he has just 19 goals and 48 points in 126 career NHL games. This season he has only 11 points in 40 contests. Still, he is just 22 and the Red Wings are continuing to rebuild, so why would they trade Zadina for Petry?

Well, the Wings did add a pair of veteran defenders to help guide the younger players along in the rebuild. Nick Leddy and Marc Staal were both acquired to add experience and leadership, but both players will be free agents at season’s end. The team will want someone to mentor the younger blue liners next season.

Petry is from Michigan, and has been a terrific leader for the Canadiens over the past few seasons. He would be a perfect leader for the young players like Moritz Seider to look up to and learn the pro game from.

Petry has also been a terrific player up until this season. The Red Wings would have to believe this season is more a reflection of how poor the Canadiens team is and not a sign that Petry has completely forgotten how to play hockey.

Aside from his contract, Petry might not be a perfect fit on the Red Wings blue line. They already have Seider and Filip Hronek on the right side, so might not want to spend the cap hit and cash necessary to have Petry around for three seasons.

But if they are interested in his leadership and believe he can bounce back offensively on a team that can actually score goals, a Petry for Zadina trade would be very intriguing for the Montreal Canadiens.