Trade Deadline
Perhaps the most interesting wrinkle in how the second half goes is how that affects the strategy heading into the trade deadline. The Canadiens play 20 games between now and the March 8th deadline, so still a lot to determine. A good stretch and the Canadiens might consider adding some players for a potential playoff run. A lousy stretch and… well.
We already know that the Canadiens have told Monahan he would be moved to a contender at the deadline if the Canadiens are not in the running. But we may see other players on the chopping block as well. Could we see a solution to the goalie rotation? Would the Canadiens consider moving David Savard? We may find out the answers to these questions and more very soon.
The Canadiens, being in a rebuild, would more likely be willing to sell than spend a lot to add a player, but we won’t know for sure until we get closer. A struggling team, well out of the playoff race by then, would certainly make Kent Hughes and his team’s decision a hell of a lot easier. But even then, he’ll have to make tough decisions about who he wants to keep and who he is willing to depart with. We saw this two years ago when he traded Ben Chiarot, Tyler Toffoli and Artturi Lehkonen all around the 2022 deadline.
We may not see a deadline quite as busy as that one, but I suspect he may be more active than he was a year ago. If you remember, the only move he made was swapping Evgenii Dadonov for Denis Gurianov. Health will ultimately be imperative for that to be a reality, though, something that wasn’t the case last season.
Regardless of how the Canadiens perform, there will be plenty of things to keep an eye on as the season winds down. The rat race has only just begun.