The Montreal Canadiens got a pleasant surprise when the Vancouver Canucks chose to greatly overpay for Elias Lindholm who is yet to reach the ten goal threshold this season.
A player that is being outscored by Sean Monahan was traded for Andrei Kuzmenko, a first round pick, a great prospect in Hunter Brzustewicz, a depth propsect named Joni Jurmo and a fourth round pick that could turn into a third.
That's a great haul, and could help the Canadiens case when negotiating a new landing spot for Monahan. The 29 year old has 13 goals and 35 points in 49 games this season and is now the top center on the trade market.
One team that may be interested in the services of Monahan is the New York Rangers. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Rangers were already looking for center help when they received the news Filip Chytil will be out for the duration of the season with an upper body injury which is suspected to be a concussion.
The fit seems to be perfect, and the Canadiens even have Jeff Gorton on staff, the former general manager of the New York Rangers. Who better to scout the young players on a rival than the guy who drafted and began developing a lot of their young players.
Well, a recent Arthur Staple article in The Athletic suggests no one could be worse when it comes to working out a deal with the Rangers.
In fact, Staple, who covers hockey in New York area, went so far as to say he doesn't expect Rangers general manager Chris Drury to even pick up the phone to contact the Canadiens about Monahan because of his relationship with Gorton. He also points out that the Canadiens hired two executives that were fired by Drury, meaning there is no love lost between the two managerial teams.
Staple mentioned Monahan as an ideal fit for the Rangers, but thinks both sides will look elsewhere to make a deal.
This is obviously unfortunate as the Canadiens want to make the best trade they can for Monahan. The Canucks are already off the board as they filled a need at center. Taking the Rangers off the possible trade partner list just further thins out the trade market.
They should still be able to find a partner with teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins and well, doesn't a cheap contract like Monahan's just feel like a Tampa Bay Lightning move?
We shall see, but don't expect Monahan to end up in Manhattan as the two teams just don't see eye to eye.