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Four RFA’s Canadiens Rumored To Be Interested In

By Patrick Lortie

Canada's defender Thomas Chabot (L) and Canada's forward Pierre-Luc Dubois cheer after the 3-2 goal scored by Dubois during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships quarterfinal match between Sweden and Canada in Tampere, Finland, on May 26, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Canada's defender Thomas Chabot (L) and Canada's forward Pierre-Luc Dubois cheer after the 3-2 goal scored by Dubois during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships quarterfinal match between Sweden and Canada in Tampere, Finland, on May 26, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Miss the rumor mill? The Montreal Canadiens are never short of a few rumors. As a matter of fact, there are so many it’s hard to chose from. This time around however, we’re going to pick five of them as there are some very interesting Restricted Free Agents who could be requesting a change of address either via trade, or through a hostile offer.

If Kent Hughes can accomplish his task of ridding himself of Shea Weber’s contract, shelving Carey Price’s contract on the LTIR, as well as trading away some hefty contracts such as Mike Hoffman’s and Jeff Petry’s, this opens the door to some young and exciting players who can compliment the young core of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alexander Romanov.

So without further ado, here are four RFA’s the Canadiens have been linked to and are apparently interested in acquiring if of course, the “Price” is “Wright”.

Yeah i’ll leave the pun to the others.

Patrik Laine

ELMONT, NEW YORK – MARCH 31: Patrik Laine #29 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates in his 400th NHL game against the New York Islanders at the UBS Arena on March 31, 2022 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
ELMONT, NEW YORK – MARCH 31: Patrik Laine #29 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates in his 400th NHL game against the New York Islanders at the UBS Arena on March 31, 2022 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

This isn’t the first time Laine has been linked to the Canadiens. During the 2016 draft it was reported Marc Bergevin was attempting a coup as he was dangling his number 9 overall pick along with a plethora of prospects and other picks in order to receive the 2nd AND third overall picks.

There’s no doubt that Laine’s inconsistency furstrates everyone including arena janitors. This is a player who can play at an Alexander Ovechkin level if he just showed up. Last season showed a little more promise as he lit up the lamp 26 times and scored at a point per game pace scoring 56 points in 56 games. His $7.5 million contract is up and he is once again facing an unknown future as a restricted free agent. Though the Blue Jackets have recently attempted to lure Laine back to Columbus by signing one of Laine’s best friends in Joona Luoto.

There’s just no doubt that a line of Laine-Suzuki-Caufield could be one of the most dangerous for the next decade.

2016 was the year Auston Matthews went first overall and while no trade ever materialized for Montreal, Laine went second overall to the Winnipeg Jets. Who went third overall? The man he would be traded for in Pierre-Luc Dubois with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the next player on our list.

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