2016-17 Season
The 2017 NHL trade deadline has gone down in Habs history for all of the wrong reasons. You probably saw this one coming, and already know the three players off by heart that the Habs picked up that year, but let’s take a look back at a few dreadful decisions anyway.
The Canadiens were once again having a solid regular season, and Carey Price was a big part of it. He played 62 games that season and had a 2.23 GAA with a .923 SV%. It was the first season he had Shea Weber in front of him and the team had one of the lowest goals against in the league, which is often a recipe for postseason success.
However, they were not a high scoring team as both Plekanec and Gallagher really struggled offensively and each of them finished the season with less than 30 points. Desperately needing offence to complement a team that had Price in net and a great trio of defenders in Weber, Markov and Petry, the Habs made some interesting trade deadline decisions.
When the dust settled on deadline day, the Canadiens had acquired Steve Ott, Andreas Martinsen and Dwight King. They combined to play 51 games with the Habs, scoring one goal and one assist.
There were not a lot of top six forwards traded at that year’s deadline, but bringing back Thomas Vanek for another playoff run, or pulling the trigger on a heavily rumoured Matt Duchene deal would have given the Canadiens, and Carey Price, a much better chance at a long playoff run with some added scoring.
Instead, the Habs bowed out meekly in the first round in six games, scoring just 11 goals, less than two per game.
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