The Montreal Canadiens have certainly wanted to make a trade with the Detroit Red Wings this season, but the focus has primarily been around Dylan Larkin. However, Larkin refuses to expand his trade list, and there really isn't much that general manager Kent Hughes can do if the player doesn't change his mind.
Larkin, though, may not be the only Red Wings player that the Canadiens are chasing, and according to David Pagnotta on DFO Insider, "there is a lot of interest in Edvinsson from Montreal's side." While Edvinsson is a good player, there are too many issues for a trade like this to make sense for the Canadiens.
The first issue is that the Canadiens already have too many defensemen as it is, and they can't even get a spot open for David Reinbacher. In addition, they are without Mike Matheson, and once he returns, Adam Engstrom will probably get bumped from the lineup.
This is not to say that the Canadiens won't consider making a trade for a defenseman, but Edvinsson doesn't help them bring some balance to their blueline. Edvinsson is left-handed, and the Canadiens already have Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, and Engstrom, who are all left-handed.
Now Hutson can play on the right side if needed, but it isn't ideal to have that many players who all shoot on the same side.
Would the Montreal Canadiens want to commit a big contract to Simon Edvinsson?
All of the concerns to this point can certainly be managed, but the biggest reason a trade for Edvinsson doesn't make sense for the Canadiens is that they would need to commit to a big contract with him. The only reason he has yet to play this season is that he does not have a new contract after being a restricted free agent.
The Canadiens already have two players, Hutson and Noah Dobson, with contracts that have an AAV over $8.5 million. Would the Canadiens want to make it three, as Edvinsson is probably looking for something in that range at a minimum?
On top of that, the Canadiens would need to create that cap space for this season, as Edvinsson's first year of his contract would begin now. According to Puckpedia, the Canadiens currently have only $1.8 million in cap space, so they would need to move out some salary to make it work.
If they were to do that, then it would also restrict their ability to add a Top 6 forward, which at this point is probably the bigger need.
When taking all these things into account, it doesn't really make much sense for Kent Hughes to be chasing Simon Edvinsson and he should be putting his efforts in other parts of the roster.
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