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Montreal Canadiens: Three Former Canadiens Who Deserve Another NHL Shot

By Ken MacMillan

May 1, 2023; Newark, New Jersey, USA; New Jersey Devils left wing Tomas Tatar (90) celebrates his goal against the New York Rangers during the second period in game seven of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2023; Newark, New Jersey, USA; New Jersey Devils left wing Tomas Tatar (90) celebrates his goal against the New York Rangers during the second period in game seven of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Montreal Canadiens are not expected to be adding any new free agents in the coming days. They simply have too many veteran forwards who are under contract for next season and no room for anyone else on the roster right now.

In fact, if any transactions come out of Montreal in the next few days, it would more likely be the trade of a veteran player who is leaving town, and not a new addition. Shipping out someone who has proven what they can do at the NHL level to make more room for players like Jesse Ylonen and Rafael Harvey-Pinard to have bigger roles with the team would make sense.

It could also make sense for the Canadiens to pull off a “Sean Monahan type” trade at some point this summer. That would be to add a veteran player with a valuable draft pick attached in order to clear some cap space for another team. It would not be ideal with their current situation, but if someone is offering a first round pick then the Canadiens need to be listening.

So, don’t expect the Canadiens to grab one of the remaining free agents like Vladimir Tarasenko or Matt Dumba, even if they could use a right shot defender and have the cap room.

Looking at the remaining free agents, there are not really any that make sense for the Canadiens to target. There are however, a few former Canadiens that someone needs to sign and they will get great value at this point of the offseason.

Obviously, after being arrested and having his contract torn up by the Arizona Coyotes, Alex Galchenyuk is not among the former Habs that someone should target right now. But these three former Canadiens would provide plenty of value to another team that locks them up for 2023-24.

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