Montreal Canadiens: Five Hypothetical Joel Armia Trades

The Montreal Canadiens are going to need to clear some cap space before the 2022-23 season begins. That is not an easy thing to do in the (mostly) flat cap world.

Teams just can’t increase payroll if the spending limit only goes up one million in a three year period. But, somehow the Canadiens are going to have to move out some money.

They traded Shea Weber’s contract which will keep them out of long term injured reserve for the foreseeable future. That is, assuming Carey Price is healthy enough to play next season. If he is, the Habs are well over the upper spending limit.

Trading Weber actually increased the Habs cap hit because they acquired a healthy Evgeni Dadonov. Weber was stashed away on LTIR all of last season and though that makes cap calculations a little trickier, it does allow the team to spend more. Dadonov’s full $5 million cap hit will count against the limit in 2022-23.

Right now, according to capfriendly.com, the Canadiens are basically up against the salary cap and are yet to re-sign Alexander Romanov and Rem Pitlick and a couple of depth pieces to fill out the roster.

One player they would likely want to move on from is right winger Joel Armia. Last season was his first under a four year contract that has a cap hit of $3.4 million. He scored six goals and 14 points in 60 games.

He now has three years left on his contract with a hefty cap hit for a bottom six player. But, Armia has been better in the past, is just 29 so isn’t old, and is a great defensive player and penalty killer.

Would anyone be willing to trade for Armia? Based on his size, track record and defensive play, I think a few teams would be willing to roll the dice that the Finnish winger would be a great fit on their third line and top penalty kill.

But who? And would they be able to take on that whole contract? Let’s take a look.

Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are admittedly not the perfect destination for Joel Armia, but there is a trade that might make sense for both sides. Armia broke into the league with the Winnipeg Jets and their head coach at the time was Paul Maurice.

Paul Maurice was just hired by the Florida Panthers to be their head coach. So there is some familiarity between the two. Armia wasn’t a top line scorer or anything at that time, but he showed plenty of promise and Maurice would recall his versatility and defensive game.

The problem is, the Panthers are already in cap trouble and need some help heading into next season. The only way they would be interested in an Armia trade is if it actually saves them money next season.

The Canadiens could accommodate that by taking Patric Hornqvist back in the trade. He is also a right winger but has just one year left on his contract at $5.3 million. He scored just 28 points in 65 games last season.

An Armia for Hornqvist swap would cost the Canadiens almost an extra $2 million next season, but save them the final two years of Armia’s three year contract.

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens make unlikely trade partners. As do the Panthers for that matter, but Ben Chiarot was just dealt there so who knows? It’s just that division rivals rarely make deals together.

If they do, you can be sure top prospects or draft picks like won’t be involved. The only types of trades you are likely to see between division rivals are the typical “seller” giving up an expiring piece to a “contender” like when Chiarot went from Montreal to Florida.

The other type of trade is a classic “change of scenery” and see what happens deal. That’s what the Canadiens and Senators could pull off. The Sens are likely about to trade Connor Brown and could use a veteran right shot right winger like Armia to take on defensive minutes.

The Sens are also rumoured to be looking to move Colin White, and the Canadiens apparently hd talks about that player, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes was White’s agent before taking on his current role, so he could be interested in bringing White to Montreal.

White is just 25 but has just 51 points in 130 games over the past three seasons. He had a breakout season in 2018-19 where he scored 41 points in 71 games but hasn’t been able to match that production. He has three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.75 million.

He is also younger and has more potential offensive upside than Armia, so maybe a swap of players needing a new home could work.

Los Angeles Kings

If anyone is going to be interested in acquiring Joel Armia’s contract, wouldn’t it be the guy who offered it to him in the first place? As one of the final transactions before he was fired as Canadiens general manager, it was Marc Bergevin who signed Armia to an extension shortly before he hit the free agent market.

Now, Bergevin is working for the Los Angeles Kings, and though he isn’t the GM, he is a special advisor to the team’s general manager, Rob Blake. It seems likely he would put in a good word for Armia, as he surely did for Phillip Danault, a signing that worked out tremendously for the Kings.

The Kings lost Dustin Brown to retirement and have a lot of young centres that could be pushing for minutes this season. Anze Kopitar and Danault are the top two, but 19 year old Quinton Byfield, 22 Gabe Vilardi and 22 year old Rasmus Kupari will all play bottom six minutes down the middle at points next season.

They could use a trusted, veteran, defensively sound winger with that untapped offensive potential that we see on occasion. The Kings are one of a few teams who could actually see enough value that they offer up a pick to take on all of Armia’s contract.

They have tons of cap space, even after acquiring Kevin Fiala and signing him to a monster extension. They have the room, could use a veteran on their bottom six and employ the guy who singed Armia.

Chicago Blackhawks

Speaking of connections between player and staff, the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks could use a couple of familiar faces in his lineup next season.

Luke Richardson was the assistant coach running the defence for most of Armia’s tenure in Montreal, and he was just named the head coach of the Blackhawks. When he runs a bench for the first regular season in his career, wouldn’t he want a trusted, defensive veteran he can use in specific situations?

While Richardson primarily took care of blue liners during his time in Montreal, he would obviously be familiar with Armia’s ability to kill penalties and play a reliable role. His offence never seems to be what it should be, based on the fact he is always in the right spot and creates chances even while shorthanded, but he is a safe player that coaches seem to love.

The Blackhawks are rebuilding for sure, so maybe they think they can bring Armia in and eventually trade him for a second round pick of a prospect if he gets hot for a while. It would be a low risk gamble that wound’t cost them much at all.

In fact, they could offer up a player that they may not even give a qualifying offer. Dylan Strome is coming off a season where he scored 22 goals and 48 points in 69 games, but his inconsistency and skating issues have led to him falling out of favour.

The Hawks would have to extend a qualifying offer of $3.6 million to retain his rights for next season and are reportedly on the fence as to whether they will do that or not.

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