Montreal Canadiens: Kent Hughes Trade Deadline gameplan

For the Montreal Canadiens, the approach by their general manager, Kent Hughes, was going to be a methodical one.

If you scroll through the hockey section of your social accounts, many fans are ready to bring the axe down on Hughes. It's silly to think that some don't understand how difficult it is to make NHL trades. It doesn't happen at the snap of your fingers.

The league is in a spot where the dominant players in the league aside from the big three at the top are 25 and under. The salary cap is rising, but managers aren't ready to okay a trade unless they feel they are winning. It's an instinct, and managers can be rather cold blooded.

Montreal's approach should be to figure out a second-line centre option, because, while Owen Beck has been great for the team, he has played just 59 professional games. Of his 59 games, just 12 have been with the Canadiens. I like Beck a lot, and I see second-line centre upside, but he needs to be eased in.

Throwing Beck to the wolves right now could go one of two ways, very badly or surprisingly great. If he is pegged in as the Habs' second line centre, and they make the playoffs, he will play hard minutes fast. Jake Evans, Nick Suzuki and Christian Dvorak can play the hard minutes - but why keep Beck away from Laval to play nine minutes a night in Montreal?

Laval is on a roll - and they have confidence in their goaltenders, Cayden Primeau, and Connor Hughes. Their defence has three young players with high NHL potential, David Reinbacher, Logan Mailloux and Adam Engstrom, who will get some fantastic experience under their belts. And then there is the offense, that is full of intriguing forwards.

Joshua Roy, Florian Xhekaj, Sean Farrell and Jared Davidson present a quartet of players that all bring some different elements to the Rocket lineup. Montreal oughta be excited about that. One way of showing that is sending Beck down to give Pascal Vincent's squad the best chance at winning a Calder Cup.

If Kent wants the Habs to make a playoff push, their second line centre will have to play more than nine minutes a night. I love Michael Hage, and in two years it's his role to lose. But we are here and now, and the Canadiens playoff lives are dependent on finding a bona fide second line centre.

The Ottawa Senators, who are in the thick of the wildcard race with the Canadiens among other teams, made a big splash. Senators general manager Steve Staios shipped center Josh Norris, and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Buffalo Sabres for center Dylan Cozens, a 2026 second round pick and defenseman Dennis Gilbert. The Senators needed some grit, and Cozens is an upgrade on that over Norris.

The Senators upgraded significantly with this acquisition, and in my opinion, they have a great top six, and their blueline looks solid as well. Gilbert is going to be a nice addition to their defence, and Cozens is a horse, who should take some of the fighting responsibilities off Brady Tkachuk's shoulders. If Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg can handle it between the pipes, the Senators look good right now.

Even if they sneak in, it doesn't matter, the Canadiens did it, and went to the Stanley Cup final. Anything is possible if you squeeze in there, and the Senators have improved their team to confidently secure their place in the playoffs.

Craig Button compliments Macklin Celebrini

"Macklin Celebrini will be a better Jonathan Toews in his prime", Craig Button. That is quite the compliment, as Toews was the number one centre on three Stanley Cup winning teams. He is one of the best two-way centre's in NHL history - and Celebrini is much better offensively than Toews, who has 883 points (372 goals, and 511 assists) over 1,067 NHL games.

That wasn't exactly relevant to the article, but it was mentioned during the airing of Tradecentre on TSN. And I felt that it was particularly interesting.

Trade assets

Hughes has plenty of unrestricted free agents (UFA's) on expiring contracts, who could be used as trade assets to address other areas of need in the Canadiens' lineup. On the other hand, they can also be used for the Canadiens, and their playoff hopes.

Either way that you look at it, a move needs to be made to address the hole at second line centre. Montreal has a loaded prospect pool, a handful of UFAs and plenty of draft capital. Hughes bolstering the top six centre group will send a message to captain Nick Suzuki, and the Canadiens that he trusts his group to make a big push.

Trading Justin Barron to the Nashville Predators for Alexandre Carrier was a big statement. Without another move or two, I think it's a mistake on Hughes's part. And i'm not suggesting to trade away anything crazy (Hage, Ivan Demidov or Jacob Fowler).

David Savard, his shutdown defensive brilliance and Stanley Cup champion resumé speaks for itself, he isn't as fleet footed as he once was, but he is a great bottom pairing defenseman. He will kill penalties, block shots and stand up for his teammates. For a serious contender, it's a no brainer in my eyes.

Joel Armia has formed one of the league's top penalty killing forward duos with Jake Evans, both were impending free agents. Evans signed an extension, taking a big fish off the trade bait list. Armia, however, hasn't signed an extension, and would provide a contender with the prototypical bottom six winger,

Christian Dvorak is another center for the Canadiens, and with the way centre's are getting dealt, it wouldn't surprise me if he garners interest. Hughes could even retain a little to up the potential return. Dvorak wins faceoffs, kills penalties and he would be a brilliant bottom six center for any playoff bound team.

C'mon Kent, you must have something up your sleeve.