Canadiens Came Close To A Much Bigger Trade With Oilers

Montreal Canadiens fans were not short of action at the trade deadline. The overall review of fans and media alike were very positive when grading Kent Hughes’ work on his first trade deadline day as General Manager.

On our end, Joshua Rosa wrote deserving and fittings odes of farewell to Artturi Lehkonen and Brett Kulak.

John Wiens is ecstatic as to how the team is shaping up under the new management.

Even our prospects and analytics guru, Sebastian High, was elated and couldn’t help but give high passing grades on Kent Hughes’ work.

It was indeed a fine day.

However, that day almost got bigger.

My experience at the trade deadline was different than most. I had the pleasure and honor of having the opportunity to create relationships and get “inside information” on a few pieces of news that happened. The one I present to you today could have indeed made deadline day even more exciting, but it didn’t happen. It still could happen, but it’s a matter of we’ll see what the team does in the offseason.

I tweeted the rumor. Twitter exploded. Some claimed that i’m a nobody and claimed “cap” or “liar” or whatever derogatory message they could send me. Granted, i’m a Co-Site Expert at A Winning Habit and I own, produce, edit and work with the amazing team over at the Puck And Roll podcast. So while my profile can seem nice to some, it doesn’t scream one of the big names you’re used to hearing.

That being said, of course i’m not going to burn my sources. Even if I am a small fish in the ocean.

Get frustrated all you want, but in this industry that’s just full of secrets, you don’t burn the bridge from your source unless they tell you it’s ok to be quoted. I was told by multiple sources that go ahead and talk about it “at your own risk” as long as you don’t quote the source. This happens all the time.

So what exactly happened? Get comfy because this is a wild ride.

Lunch time on Monday greeted us with the news that Brett Kulak was on his way to the Edmonton Oilers. Leaks were aplenty that the asking price of a 2nd round pick was accepted by the Oilers and that the rest were details.

As time went, there was an unnaturally long delay for the trade to be announced. Granted the trade queue over at the NHL offices were growing, but we hadn’t reached that 3PM traffic jam yet. Also of note, the Artturi Lehkonen trade was confirmed only minutes after it was ratified.

I was so into the Kulak trade and why it was taking so long that I actually missed the Lehkonen announcement by a few minutes. Not by much, but given that I was trying to cover the deadline as much as possible, a few minutes is an eternity in this game.

After talking to various people in the industry (media and team employees), the news was spreading. Something bigger was about to happen with the Oilers.

Brett Kulak was confirmed. Apparently Ken Holland decided it was time to ask about goaltending and inquired about Jake Allen.

The Edmonton Oilers however, were stuck at the cap ceiling and would have to offload a contract. So in came Mikko Koskinen and his remaining $4.5 million cap hit that would expire at the end of the season.

However, this doesn’t end here. Sure give us Koskinen, but you’re going to have to pony up either a 1st round pick or a 1st round prospect in return. Something Holland was apparently willing to consider given Jake Allen’s Stanley Cup pedigree as well as his ultra team friendly $2,875,000 cap hit that ran for another season.

A first was considered, only if it was in 2023 or 2024 given the Oilers have no more picks in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round in 2022. Dylan Holloway was rumored to be discussed as part of the deal and would obviously have represented a huge catch for the Canadiens.

If it were all said and done, this is the deal we (apparently) almost had:

Francois Gagnon on RDS started Tweeting in French AND in English and vehemently denied whatever reports were out there about Jake Allen.

A few hours passed and we got what we know in return for Brett Kulak.

So what happened? Was Montreal part of Koskinen’s 15 team no trade list? Was Mike Smith offered instead but Hughes rejected the deal or it changed the landscape of the deal? Were multiple people just fed false information?

Jake Allen’s agent, Allain Roy, mentioned on 91.9 FM in Montreal that the Canadiens didn’t want to trade Allen, but that teams did indeed call about the goaltender, with Edmonton being one of them.

Every player in history gets his name mentioned in trade negotiation, even if for a few seconds. Most of these negotiations we never knew even took place.

Did this one take place? Who knows at this point. However it’s safe to say, if they did, this only raises more questions about the Canadiens’ goaltending situation for next season.