The NHL Trade Deadline is quickly approaching, with just about a week left for teams to make trades to try to help their playoff chances. One of the teams that is being discussed frequently is the Montreal Canadiens because of the moves they could make.
While the Canadiens are probably looking to add, they will need to do some subtraction first and move a player like Patrik Laine. Once that happens, though, all bets are off, and on a recent episode of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman described the Canadiens perfectly ahead of the trade deadline.
"They like to be seen as the stealth guys," Friedman said. "I see them waiting in the weeds. We got things people want, and like I said, they like to be stealth."
This season hasn't been as much stealth as it seems they are, as a rumored team interested in a number of the big-name trade targets. The top one is certainly Nazem Kadri with the Calgary Flames, who has been on their radar going all the way back to December. In addition, Ryan O'Reilly is another player they have been rumored to be interested in, but that seems unlikely.
So maybe they haven't been so much stealth but it appears tough to get a read on exactly what the Canadiens are looking to do. However, as mentioned earlier they really can't do much until they create some cap space and that would likely be moving Laine.
Elliotte Friedman notes the Montreal Canadiens have also done their work on defensemen
Earlier in the same podcast, Friedman noted that the Canadiens have done their work on some of the defensemen. He specifically mentioned Philadelphia Flyers' Rasmus Ristolainen as a potential target.
While adding a Top 6 forward, particularly one who can play next to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, would be great, depth for their blueline might be the bigger need. Prior to the Olympic break, their third pair was almost non-existent, and a player like Arber Xhekaj was limited to less than 10 minutes of ice time per game.
The Canadiens probably would make a bigger impact on their playoff chances by shoring up the depth on defense than by going after a Top 6 forward. It will be an interesting week leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline and as Elliotte Friedman notes, fans might not know much about the Canadiens plans until a trade is agreed upon.