Montreal Canadiens Rumor: There's Trade Interest in David Savard, But Not From Him

The Montreal Canadiens have already begun the process of selling off veteran assets ahead of the trade deadline. That deadline is now less than two weeks away and the Canadiens are unlikely to be done dealing.

They don't have any other pending free agents that are certain to be dealt, like Monahan was, but they do have some players attracting interest from other teams.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, one of those players is David Savard. The only problem with trading him is the player has no desire to leave Montreal and would be happy to keep playing in his home province.

Savard has another year after this one on his contract with a cap hit of $3.5 million. Shortly after signing that contract in 2021, Savard mentioned he barely looked at before putting his name on it because he was so excited to play for the Montreal Canadiens that financials didn't really matter to him.

So, he is being pretty consistent when he says he does not want to leave now. However, there is not any trade protection in his contract, and he is a reliable defensive veteran who could help any teams penalty kill and defensive play at even strength.

Kent Hughes, the Canadiens general manager, has a tough decision to make. He will probably get some pretty strong offers for Savard, who was traded for first and third round picks three years ago and is not a worse player today.

However, Savard is also a trusted veteran in the Canadiens locker room and one of the few players who was extremely happy to sign in Montreal in recent years. Do you just ignore that and trade him because there is a logjam of defenders on the team and you might get an attractive offer now?

Or, do you keep the leader on the roster and let him mentor young players and teach them how to play in the defensive zone?

It will be a difficult decision for Hughes, who would be upsetting the player if he traded him. However, if a first round pick is offered for Savard, he simply can't refuse.