Montreal Canadiens: Hughes Hits Home Run in Handling of Ben Chiarot

The Montreal Canadiens have made their second big trade of the season.

Though the Tyler Toffoli trade was a bit of a surprise, there was no doubt that Ben Chiarot was eventually going to be moved.

The big, physical defender is going to be a free agent at the end of the season, and the Canadiens will not be playing playoff games this year.

They played a lot of them last season, and Chiarot was a big reason why the team was so successful in its first three playoff series. Chiarot partnered with Shea Weber to form the team’s top defence pairing and they were up against the very best players on the opposing team pretty much every shift.

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Kyle Connor, Nik Ehlers, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty all learned quickly how difficult it was to produce offence when facing Chiarot and Weber all series long.

With his contract up, and very recent playoff success on his resume, it was a sure thing that Chiarot would be traded.

But, it wasn’t a sure thing that the Canadiens would get this much for him.

The night before Chiarot was dealt, the Anaheim Ducks traded Josh Manson to the Colorado Avalanche for a second round pick in 2022 and Drew Helleson, a recent second round pick who has played well at Boston College for the past three seasons.

This appeared to set the bar for a top four defenceman on an expiring contract. But the Canadiens did much better just a day later.

Chiarot was traded to the Florida Panthers for a 2023 1st round pick, prospect Ty Smilanic and a 2022 4th round pick.

Smilanic was a drafted in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Panthers. He is a versatile forward who is nearing the end of his second NCAA season with Quinnipiac. He can play centre or either wing but is a left shooting forward with great speed and a terrific shot as well.

Smilanic has scored 13 goals and 22 points in 38 games so far this season. His squad is playing in the ECAC conference playoffs this weekend and will take on Colgate in the semifinals tonight. With a 30-5-3 record on the season, Quinnipiac is the heavy favourite to win their conference, and they will advance to the NCAA Hockey Championship tournament next week.

Smilanic is not an elite level prospect, but he is a good sized, 6’1″ and a high compete level, to go with speed and a bit of a goal scorer’s touch as well. He projects as a third line, complementary winger that can help out on a second power play unit at the NHL level.

While that is a good young piece to add, the prospect is not the prize in the Chiarot trade.

The real win for the Canadiens in this trade is the 2023 1st round pick. The Canadiens will have to be patient before making that selection more than a year from now, but it should be worth the wait.

At the time of the trade, the Panthers were second in the NHL standings. So, if the Habs acquired their 2022 1st round pick, it is almost guaranteed to be a 25th overall pick or later. The Panthers have already traded their first so it is a moot point, but if Chiarot were traded to another team for a 2022 1st, it is almost guaranteed to be one of the last picks of the first round.

Delaying it a year gives the chance that the pick is much higher. The Panthers likely will contend again next season, since they are built around young players like Alexander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aaron Ekblad. However, there is a small chance things go off the rails and the pick ends up much better than expected.

The real surprising part of this trade is that there is no protection on it. Many time when NHL teams trade first round picks, it is “top 10 protected” or “top 5 protected” meaning if the pick is in the top ten, the team keeps its original pick and sends either a first round pick a year later or a second round pick instead.

This trade has no protection. Again, the Panthers will probably be good, but the San Jose Sharks thought they were going to be good when they traded for Erik Karlsson. Then they weren’t and they had to send the third overall pick to the Ottawa Senators who selected Tim Stuetzle.

Besides, even if the Panthers are great again next season, the 2023 draft is said to be much deeper than the 2022 draft, so a late first a year from now should provide a better player than a late first this season.

After the Manson trade, it looked unlikely that the Canadiens could get a first round pick for Chiarot at all. The fact they got an unprotected pick in a better draft than this years makes the trade a terrific one for Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens.

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