Boston Bruins
The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins do not link up on trades very often. In fact, the last one was a swap of depth defenders when Eric Weinrich was dealt for Patrick Traverse in 2001.
That's well over 20 years ago and there were not many trades between the two rivals in the 30 years before that. I suppose, after gifting the Canadiens Ken Dryden in a deal in 1964 the Bruins just decided to never deal with the Canadiens again.
However, the Bruins lost Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement last summer and didn't really add anyone to fill that void. Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle have filled in that gap quite admirably this season, but there is no question the Bruins could use some help down the middle.
There are a few centers out there available including Adam Henrique and Elias Lindholm but Monahan is narrowly outscoring both of them and earns a fraction of the salary as well. It is easy to make a case Monahan is having the best season of any center that is available on the trade market.
That would make him an attractive piece for the Bruins and they are in a position to offer a future first round pick and a prospect like Frederic Brunet for Monahan.
The first round pick would have to be in 2025 as the Bruins already traded their upcoming first rounder to the Detroit Red Wings for Tyler Bertuzzi. Brunet is a left defenseman, and the Canadiens don't really need more of those, but he is just 20 years old and a bit of a project who could stay with the Laval Rocket for a couple years.
Brunet is a first year pro and has six points in 23 games for the Providence Bruins of the AHL. He really broke out in the QMJHL last season after being a fifth round pick when he scored 73 points in 66 games from the blue line. He has good size at 6'3" giving him the size to defend at the NHL level and his Junior numbers show he has the potential to be an offensive contributor as well.