Last week, the Philadelphia Flyers made a huge splash with a shocking offer sheet to Leo Carlsson with an AAV of $18 million. The Anaheim Ducks had seven days from that point to decide whether or not they were going to match.
The reason the Ducks probably haven't announced the decision is that they are working through different scenarios. While they have the cap space to match the offer sheet, it does put them in a salary cap crunch, as they would have only $9 million left, and Cutter Gauthier still needs a new contract.
They could help themselves if they are able to move a player or two in a trade, and the Montreal Canadiens would be a logical team to call. The Canadiens still are in search of a Top 6 forward, and the Ducks have a few players who could address the need.
Mikael Granlund could be the perfect trade target for the Montreal Canadiens
Among the players on the Ducks who could be a fit for the Canadiens Top 6, Mikael Granlund would be the most logical from both teams' perspective. Mikael Granlund signed a three-year, $21 million contract last offseason and finished with 41 points in 58 games.
The reason that Granlund makes sense is that he is an older player and wouldn't necessarily block Michael Hage from that spot when he makes the jump to the NHL. Granlund still has two years left on his contract and does have a 15-team no-trade clause, which is something that could be a problem if Montreal is one of the teams on that list.
The addition of Granlund also gives the Canadiens some stability at the position going into 2027-28, as Phillip Danault is an unrestricted free agent and Oliver Kapanen is a restricted free agent.
The Anaheim Ducks need to create cap space, and that would be the biggest value in any trade, so the Canadiens wouldn't need to offer a huge return to get a deal done. It may not be the big splash that fans were hoping for, but Granlund would be an upgrade for Montreal on that second line and provide Ivan Demidov with an established center to play alongside this season.
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