The Montreal Canadiens are not likely to be trade deadline buyers this season, though the team is outperforming expectations. Still, a realistic prediction would see the team drop a bit more in the standings before season’s end.
That means they will be looking to trade away pending free agents like Sean Monahan and Evgenii Dadonov, and maybe veterans like Joel Edmundson. That is just the way the NHL works, good teams buy and bad teams sell during the season.
Bigger trades that may work out great for both teams are mostly reserved for the offseason. Big deals often happen at or around the NHL Draft, and are rare to see in the month of December.
But that doesn’t mean teams are not allowed to look around. When an interesting young player becomes available, every team in the league needs to take notice. The Canadiens need to check in on one young winger who just became available via trade.
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Brock Boeser is available to be traded. The Vancouver Canucks got off to a brutal start, and are apparently looking to shake things up, even though they are playing better recently.
Boeser was nearly made a healthy scratch last night, and is reportedly talking to other teams in order to facilitate a trade. Boeser is a 25 year old right winger with some solid offensive seasons already under his belt. He scored 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games in 2017-18 and had fairly consistent point totals through the 2020-21 season.
In 2021-22, he had 23 goals and 46 points in 71 games and this was seen as a disappointment. This year, he has four goals and 15 points in 19 games and that is also somehow underwhelming fans and management personnel in Vancouver.
His 15 points would put him behind Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan in Montreal, but well ahead of everyone else on the team. While the Habs seem to have Caufield, Suzuki, Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky as long term pieces up front, there are no other players that appear to be future top six forwards on the roster right now.
Perhaps prospects like Filip Mesar, Owen Beck, Joshua Roy or Sean Farrell will eventually fill that void, but Boeser could step into a top six role today.
The big problem would be trying to fit his cap hit. Boeser is signed for two more years after this one with a cap hit of $6.65 million. Trying to fit that into a new team midseason can be extremely difficult. The Habs would need the Canucks to take back someone who is making decent money.
The Canucks would likely want some future pieces in a trade. They can’t ask for too much with Boeser clearly wanting out and the team prepared to healthy scratch him last night if not for a last minute injury to a teammate.
Of course, the Canucks have been desperately trying to improve their defence. Would they be interested in a veteran like Joel Edmundson? Would they be willing to take on a contract like Joel Armia’s, along with a couple of second round picks to make a deal work financially? Would they hold out for a team that can take on the full cap hit and ask for a good young player like Jordan Harris?
All questions that the Habs need to check in on and answer. If the Canucks want a player like Harris, no thanks. If they will take on Armia’s deal, the Habs would have to be very interested as they need to clear out some of these overpaid veteran wingers.
Boeser has fallen out of favour in Vancouver, but even in his “down season” he would have been a top scorer on the Canadiens. He was also dealing with his ailing father last season who passed away, which may explain some of his lesser offensive numbers.
It could also signal a bounce back coming in the near future, and the Canadiens could use another top six winger. Boeser to the Canadiens would be a complicated deal, but one worth checking out.
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