Montreal Canadiens: Tyler Toffoli Trades Signals Longer Rebuild
Montreal Canadiens games this season don’t have the usual intrigue of questioning whether they would win or not.
It is quite clear, and early most nights, who the winning team is going to be and it is almost never the Canadiens.
The bigger questions around the Habs this season have turned to whether they will embark on a quick reset or a larger rebuild.
When the new regime was hired, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes were tasked with answering that questions. Essentially, will they try to compete as soon as next season when having a healthy Carey Price is a possibility? Or will they take a larger step back hoping for a leap forward down the road.
The Tyler Toffoli trade shone a light on their plans. If the team had any inkling they could be decent next season, they wouldn’t be moving out Toffoli. Especially not for a first round pick and a prospect who just turned 20. This clearly signals a longer term rebuild rather than a quick reset of the lineup.
Toffoli has two more seasons on his contract at a very reasonable $4.25 million. In fact, he probably had the best contract of any player on the team this season when you compare cap hit to production and value on the ice. He led the team in goals and points last season and was second in scoring in the playoffs for the team.
You don’t trade away a player like that and then expect to compete a year later. This deal clearly shows the team is planning on not being good in 2022-23.
I would expect we see some more players with term traded as well in the near future. Moving Toffoli and then just trading away other players that are on expiring contracts doesn’t make sense either.
Mike Hoffman, Jeff Petry, Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin, Christian Dvorak, David Savard, even Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher could all be dealt this season as well. They have value and could clear some cap space while attracting a decent return in a trade.
They won’t all be dealt, but expect a few more players with term to be sent packing before the trade deadline as Gorton and Hughes commit to this rebuilding plan.