The Montreal Canadiens are certain to be sellers leading up to the March 21st trade deadline that is officially two weeks away.
They already started selling when they dealt Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames for a combination of prospects, draft picks and cap dumps. We can expect that trend to continue as they are still the second worst team in the NHL standings, even after winning seven of eight games.
They could continue playing at this pace for the rest of the season under new head coach Martin St. Louis, but it won’t be enough to overcome the hole they dug for themselves to begin the season.
So the selloff will continue. The team needs a bit of an infusion of young talent throughout the lineup. They could be much better next season, with a healthy Carey Price and Jake Allen in goal and a rebuilt blue line. It would all start by selling at this trade deadline and then being aggressive in the offseason as they look to add via trades and free agency.
But, let’s start with step one and the trade deadline. The team will be moving out veteran players for future assets. But who will they trade? And what will they get in return?
Well, here is the totally inside (no, it’s not) look at exactly what general manager Kent Hughes will trade every single player for right now. (Again, I’m kidding).
But seriously, what would be fair market price for every single Canadiens player? Let’s go down the list from the player with the least value (sorry Paquette but we all know it) to the player with the most and what kind of return they could expect.