What would a hypothetical trade for Trevor Zegras look like for the Canadiens?
The Montreal Canadiens may not acquire long-term talent from outside the organization this year, but a trade for Trevor Zegras would be an outlier.
If there is one talented youngster who could find himself on the move in 2024, it’s Trevor Zegras, and the Montreal Canadiens would be a more than realistic destination. Zegras has some familiarity with one of the Habs star players in Cole Caufield, and that fact alone would make this a logical trade, even if it would spell some potential downsides.
But what would a potential trade package for Trevor Zegras look like if general manager Kent Hughes were to try and find a way to bring him to Montreal? In short, Zegras wouldn’t come cheap, so before anything else, let’s talk about why trading for Zegras would be a good idea and what his role may look like with the Habs - an alternative to one lining up alongside Caufield - before talking about the ultimate trade package.
Why trade for Trevor Zegras?
Trading for Trevor Zegras would be one of the few potential blockbuster acquisitions that would make sense for the Canadiens, and it goes beyond the connection with Cole Caufield. Montreal is one team looking for as many franchise cornerstones as they can get, and Zegras has the talent to produce numbers similar to what we have seen from young players like Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Caufield.
He will also be entering his age-24 season, so Zegras’ age fits what the Canadiens would be looking for. While their cap space looks like a concern to take on the 23-year-old’s $5.75 million AAV, the trade package presented in this piece would free up enough room to bring the versatile forward to town.
Zegras would also be looking for a larger contract when he becomes eligible to sign an extension following the 2024-25 season. So he wouldn’t just have a fresh start for a team that would be a good fit but also a reason to show off a heightened sense of urgency.
What could Zegras’ role look like in Montreal?
With the Ducks and Canadiens in similar situations, albeit with the latter climbing at least one rung above the former, Zegras would take on a top-six role with the Habs, and he could factor in as a winger on the second line, perhaps on a unit with Alex Newhook and Jake Evans if he didn’t line up alongside a familiar face in Cole Caufield.
This would involve Newhook kicking out to play wing while Evans takes center, and in this situation, Zegras takes the second wing position. Such a projection would fill the Canadiens top-six exclusively with younger players still in their 20s while players like Brandon Gallagher, Josh Anderson, and Christian Dvorak take up the third line.
It would also work well for the Habs in a few aspects, as the back half of their middle-six screams experience. Forwards like Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Joel Armia, and Michael Pezzetta would take the fourth line, further giving the Habs a mixture of two older and one younger player on the bottom-three.
Zegras would mainly build chemistry alongside Evans and Newhook in this scenario, and given the latter’s productivity this past season, they could turn into an entertaining combo. It sounds like a great plan, but as mentioned before, the compensation won’t be cheap.
The ultimate trade package for Trevor Zegras
There is no doubt that the Habs will try and trade David Savard this summer, and for a few good reasons. While the Ducks will look to put together a young team this coming season, they also wouldn’t mind acquiring players who they could later move at some point in 2024-25, or at least around the deadline.
That said, the trade would likely involve Savard, but the Ducks need way more than just a 33-year-old defenseman who wouldn’t factor in with the team long-term. Beyond Savard, look for the Canadiens to give up a first-round pick in 2025, plus a mid-round pick - I’m going with a third-rounder for 2026.
The major downside would mean giving up at least one high-end prospect, most likely a forward, in exchange for someone of Zegras’ talent, so Owen Beck, a former second-round pick, sees his name called. He’s not the ideal candidate to move, but to acquire someone more established with the potential to put up at least 60 points a year, it’s a fair trade.
Plus, Beck will be eligible to move into the AHL ranks in 2024-25, and the Ducks would want a prospect who can potentially play full-time in the NHL by 2025-26. Finally, I had Kent Hughes moving an NHL-caliber defenseman, Justin Barron.
I’m a big fan of Barron’s, but he has yet to solidify a spot with Montreal’s big club, so it made sense to move him, too. Because of the large number of picks and prospects on the move, I also had Anaheim flip the Habs a fourth-rounder to further even out the trade.
Why pay such a high price for Zegras?
Trevor Zegras would give the Canadiens an intriguing top-six, so that’s reason enough to try and acquire the 23-year-old at a high price should the Ducks shop him this summer. Zegras’ obvious familiarity with Caufield would be another incentive, whether the two would end up playing alongside one another on the same line or not.
Another reason is that doing so wouldn’t hurt the Habs in their quest to build one of the league’s best prospect pools since they would still have a lot of draft capital remaining, even if they moved a pair of picks for 2025. This would still give Kent Hughes the ability to replenish the prospects pool if he traded players like Barron or Beck, as was the case in this outline.
Overall, Zegras would springboard the completion of the Habs core, and you can take his familiarity with Caufield as a bonus. Sure, there would be some risk as Zegras played in fewer than half the Ducks games this past season, but he’s also proven his worth when healthy, so there shouldn’t be much concern there.
This would be a trade where Hughes couldn’t go wrong, and even if Zegras ended up as a ‘bust,’ the Habs would be under no obligation to re-sign him. It’s a trade that I would endorse for a few reasons and one that will take the Canadiens the closest to contention since the 2020-21 season.
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