Montreal Canadiens: Three Potential Ben Chiarot Trades

The Montreal Canadiens, as well as the NHL’s 31 other teams, inch closer to the trade deadline as rumours heat up.

One player that is certain to be traded before the deadline arrives on Monday is Ben Chairot.

The defenceman is in the final year of his contract with a $3.5 million cap hit. The Habs are waiting for the right offer to come in, but have chosen to sit him out as a precautionary measure to avoid injury between now and the deadline.

Chiarot is sure to get the Canadiens a nice return. He is a big, physical, defensive defenceman who also skates incredibly well and puts up more than a few points so he offers a little something in the offensive end and is not purely a defensive player.

He showed last year that he can handle tough assignments throughout the postseason as he made life extremely difficult for Auston Matthew, Mitch Marner, Kyle Connor, Nik Ehlers, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty in the 2021 postseason.

Josh Manson, a slightly less valuable defender, was dealt for a second round pick and prospect Drew Helleson who was a second round pick in 2019 and has played quite well for Boston College for the past three seasons.

Manson plays about four less minutes per game than Chiarot, doesn’t have the same playoff pedigree, has a slightly higher cap hit and has half as many points this season.

This shows the value for Chiarot is extraordinarily high right now. With other defenders like Jakob Chychrun and John Klingberg off the market due to injury or their team attempting to make a run at the postseason, there are not a lot of other options for teams wanting a top four shutdown defender.

That just further increases Chiarot’s value as there are plenty of teams interested, and not a lot of other options available. Mark Giordano, and Hampus Lindholm are probably the only other top four defenders that are likely to be traded before the deadline.

Meanwhile, there are at least half a dozen teams looking for a top four defender. The supply and demand equation is tilting heavily towards the Canadiens favour right now.

So, who is interested in acquiring Chiarot? And what could the return in a  trade look like?

Let’s take a look at three possible deals that are more realistic than ever before as we get closer to the deadline.