Montreal Canadiens: Three Possible Jeff Petry Trade Scenarios

Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks are also very much in a rebuild. They really don’t need to be adding veteran players in the later years of their career in an attempt to make the team better right now.

However, the Ducks did lose a couple of important veterans on the blue line this offseason and could use a new leader for their young defensemen. The Ducks traded away John Klingberg at last year’s trade deadline, and lost Kevin Shattenkirk in free agency when he signed with the Boston Bruins.

They did bring in Radko Gudas, but still have a very thin blue line when it comes to NHL caliber players. With two years left on his contract, Petry could serve as a mentor as youngsters like Jamie Drysdale, Olen Zellweger, and Drew Helleson figure things out in their initial pro seasons.

A year ago, the Ducks brought in Klingberg hoping to flip him at the deadline and could do something similar with Petry. Buying him low now could pay off for the Ducks later if Petry convinces another team they need him in their top four for a playoff run, or two.

This type of trade would be a pure cap dump by the Canadiens, meaning they wouldn’t be getting much back from a rebuilding team for Petry. They would however open up enough cap space to not have to place Carey Price’s contract on long-term injured reserve which would give them more flexibility this season and allow any bonuses to be counted against this year’s cap instead of carrying over to next season.

A trade to the Ducks would likely mean a middling prospect like Benoit-Olivier Groulx or a fifth round pick would be coming back, but Petry’s entire cap hit would be off the books.