Canadiens: Why Habs Should Buy and Sell Before Trade Deadline

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The Montreal Canadiens have been battling through a very difficult season.

Injuries, illnesses, absences and unexpectedly poor performances have contributed to sink the Canadiens to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Their chances of making the 2022 playoffs sailed months ago and their hopes of another surprising postseason run are long gone.

The Canadiens status as sellers is not up for debate as we head towards the trade deadline on March 21st.

New general manager Kent Hughes already started the sell off as he dealt Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames. The return for Toffoli was a first round pick, a prospect named Emil Heineman, a later round pick and a depth forward piece to help with the number of team contracts and salary cap management for the Flames.

A veteran winger traded for picks and prospects is exactly the type of trade a team sitting near the bottom of the standings makes before a trade deadline.

The Canadiens are sure to make a few more similar trades before the deadline. Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, Chris Wideman, Mathieu Perreault and Cedric Paquette are all unrestricted free agents following this season and are likely to be dealt.

Jeff Petry and Artturi Lehkonen have also had their names thrown around in the rumour mill and could be on their way out of town any day now.

But, the Canadiens should also be looking to take advantage of a unique trade market and do a little buying as well.

There are a handful of young players on the trade market for one reason or another this season, and the Canadiens should be looking to sell veterans, acquire assets, and then immediately flip some of those assets for these young players.

Brock Boeser

A late first round pick in 2015, Brock Boeser burst onto the scene for the Vancouver Canucks in 2017-18, scoring 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games.

His offence hasn’t taken off from there, but he remains a quality goal scoring threat and has 15 goals and 31 points in 50 contests this season. That would put him atop the Canadiens goal scoring list and only Nick Suzuki has more points than Boeser this season.

The Canucks are rumoured to be looking to move a forward or two to open up some cap space. Boeser has a cap hit just under $6 million this season but is a restricted free agent following the season. If negotiations are not going as planned, he could be on the market.

The Canadiens certainly won’t be giving up their early first round pick, but if they acquire another late 2022 first round pick for Ben Chiarot, could they flip it for Boeser?

If so, it would be a great add for a team like the Canadiens that will need more goal scoring next season. If Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson are going to be the team’s first line, someone will have to play the right side with Christian Dvorak and Jonathan Drouin next year.

A right shot, right winger like Boeser would fit perfectly on that line. He is just 25 years old so he could be a fit for a long time as well.

Jack Roslovic

The Columbus Blue Jackets are surely open for business as another year is going by without a playoff berth. They sold the farm a couple year ago to take a run wth Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Seth Jones but all of those players are gone and the Blue Jackets are a wide margin from the playoffs.

One interesting player who is apparently on the market at the moment is Jack Roslovic. He is the forgotten piece in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Winnipeg Jets and Patrik Laine to the Blue Jackets.

Roslovic is a 25 year old forward who can play centre and right wing, has good size, and a decent scoring punch. He was a first round pick of the Jets in 2015, and played a depth role on a few deep Jets squads before being traded. He piled up 12 goals and 34 points in 48 games for the Jackets last season, but has just 25 points in 54 games this season.

Like with Montreal, not many players are having career years in Columbus this season. At his worst, Roslovic could be a good third line centre with size and skill. At his best he could be an offensive top six forward that scores close to a point per game.

Roslovic is a restricted free agent at the end of the season and will be looking for a raise on his less than $2 million salary. However, if he is on the market, and the Canadiens are moving a couple of veteran forwards, it would make sense to bring in a player like Roslovic.

Jakob Chychrun

Perhaps the hardest thing to acquire is a first line centre, but top pairing defenders are hard to come by as well.

The Canadiens need help in pretty much every area, but if they are going to trade Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry as has been rumoured, they are going to need someone to play big minutes on the blue line.

They will not find a better fit than Jakob Chychrun. The Arizona Coyotes defender is just 23 years old, was a first round pick in 2016, has size, speed, defensive ability, and can score as well as any defenceman in the game already.

Chychrun proved that last season when he scored 18 goals in just 56 games. He obviously brings a lot in the offensive zone, but at 6’2″ and 210 pounds he is tough to play against in the defensive zone as well.

23 year old first pairing defenders just don’t hit the trade block very often. Especially ones that are signed for three more seasons at a very reasonable cap hit of $4.6 million. The Canadiens may not have the terrific top prospect that the Coyotes would want, but if they offer up the Flames first round pick as well as the hypothetical first round pick they get for Chiarot in the near future, as well as a really good prospect like Jan Mysak it would have to get the Coyotes attention.

They have been piling up picks for this year’s draft already and the possibility of two more first round picks would have to be something the Coyotes are interested in. If they are, the Canadiens need to pounce.

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