Montreal Canadiens: Three Teams That Will Be Very Interested In Sean Monahan

The Montreal Canadiens have been playing better than expected so far in 2022-23. Of course, expectations were pretty much zero, but performing better than that isn’t much of a feat in itself.

But this team has been playing pretty solid hockey through the first quarter of the season. After 21 games, they have a record of 11-9-1 which has them just a few points outside of the playoff picture.

There is still a long way to go this season, and most would still predict this team has a tough month or two ahead of them that sees them drop down the standings. If they do, they will predictably become sellers at the trade deadline late in the season.

One player that would garner a lot of interest from other teams around the league is Sean Monahan. The Habs acquired him, with a first round pick, for nothing from the Calgary Flames in the offseason. But he is going to have tons of trade value if he keeps playing like he has in the first quarter of the schedule.

First of all, the reason the Flames had to give up so much to get someone to take on Monahan was his contract. He is in the final year of a deal that pays him $6.375 million. After two injury plagued seasons with low production, the Flames wanted to clear that cap space in order to sign Nazem Kadri.

The Canadiens sensed an opportunity and agreed to take on the entire final year of Monahan’s contract, at a huge price to the Flames. The 28 year old centre had two assists in yesterday’s win, and now has five goals and 14 points in 21 games.

Add in the fact he is a terrific faceoff guy, a tremendous teammate and in the final few months of his contract, and many teams are going to be calling on Monahan.

Which teams will be most likely to start looking to make a Monahan trade? Let’s take a look at the top three.