The idea of the Montreal Canadiens trading Jake Evans and Joel Armia at the deadline has been circulating all season. It goes back further than that for Armia, as he was a trade candidate at last year's deadline. Both players could be valuable pieces of a contending team's bottom-six and penalty-killing unit. However, according to comments from Pierre Lebrun on RDS before the Montreal Canadiens vs. San Jose Sharks matchup, Montreal might not be as eager to make the deal.
An interesting twist in the Canadiens' plans for trading them is that they have won three consecutive games after the break. Montreal is now five points back of the second wild-card spot, and the three teams they are chasing are just one point ahead of them. The Canadiens could be in third in the wild-card with a win in their game Saturday night, and the teams they are chasing, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings, are attainable mountains to climb.
It'd be difficult for the Canadiens to call off selling at the deadline because of a three-game winning streak, and most would argue they still need to trade some of their expiring contracts. Lebrun told RDS that the Canadiens aren't going to trade these players just because they are UFAs, and they might not be as open to accruing more draft picks as we originally believed.
Pierre LeBrun on RDS says that Kent Hughes is telling NHL teams that they already have many draft picks & they won’t trade Jake Evans & Joel Armia just because they’re both upcoming UFAs. He wants serious trade offers or he’s willing to keep them on the Habs.
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) February 27, 2025
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The Minnesota Wild being added as a potential team interested in acquiring these players is one we should circle. Minnesota recently lost Joel Eriksson Ek for an undetermined amount of time, which will further limit their center depth. The Wild needed to address this issue before the injury, and Evans could be a great option. Minnesota is also ranked 30th in the league in penalty killing, and Evans would be a massive help to that issue. Would Bill Guerin consider pairing Armia and Evans to bolster that area of need?
The Toronto Maple Leafs are another team that could use that pairing in their bottom-six. It'd be hard for the Canadiens to stomach trading such valuable players to their rivals, but Toronto could be the most desperate of the teams interested. The Leafs are running out of patience to make a playoff run, and it's likely they'll go all-in at this year's deadline. If Toronto gives Montreal the best offer, they'll have to take it.