Montreal Canadiens: How To Turn Habs Depth On Blue Line Into Future Top Six Scoring Threat
The Montreal Canadiens find themselves at an interesting spot in their rebuild. Some pieces appear to already be in place, while other issues seem like they may never be fixed.
To be more precise, the Canadiens blue line is coming along quite nicely as they transition from a team that was in the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 to a completely revamped defensive group that looks to get back to the Stanley Cup Final before 2031.
The group that helped the team make it within three victories of a Stanley Cup was led by Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot and Joel Edmundson. They also had Jon Merrill, Brett Kulak, Erik Gustafsson and Alexander Romanov playing games in that playoff run. It wasn't long after that playoff run that all eight defensemen were gone.
In their place are an impressive group of young blue liners. Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron have been developing chemistry and look like a future top four pairing and backbone of a great team. Mike Matheson and David Savard have arrived as the veteran presence on the back end and they both play a lot of heavy minutes when they are healthy.
Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic all played regular minutes last season and performed well at the NHL level as rookies. Jayden Struble has stepped in this season when others were injured and has looked like a savvy veteran with his combination of size, phusicality, speed and smarts.
Add in Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher who are expected to take on huge roles in the near future and the Canadiens are bursting at the seams with young defensemen.
It is a great problem to have, but the same can't be said at other positions. Beyond Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach, it is difficult to predict who else will play center on this team in two years time. There are also a list of good winger prospects but aside from Cole Caufield, there are not many high scoring threats.
It could lead to a big trade in the near future. The Canadiens need to deal from their plethora of defensemen to add some scoring punch up front. Let's take a look at three ways they could approach that situation.
Trade Jordan Harris for Ethan Gauthier
The best way the Canadiens can use their current situation to fix a future is to trade from that position of defensive depth and strength and acquire a need in a scoring forward.
This is a difficult trade to make midseason as teams are usually not willing to just swap young players or prospects with another team. Teams are either trying to win and looking to add something that can help them now, or are peeking ahead at the future and are looking for something that can help them down the road.
The type of trade we are looking at here would have to see the Canadiens trading a young defenseman who can help a contender now and into the future, while getting the Canadiens a highly touted prospect who can help them in the near future.
A team that could use some cheap defensive help is the Tampa Bay Lightning. They have struggled (at least to their standards) and have 33 points in 32 games. They still have some game breaking talent up front with Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos but they are lacking a bit on the back end where they have lost pieces each season.
Adding a young player with a manageable cap hit like Jordan Harris would make sense for the Lightning. He fits from a cap perspective as he makes just $1.4 million through next season and his versatility would allow him to play anywhere from the right side of the top pairing with Victor Hedman to third pairing on the left side behind Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev.
With the emergence of Struble, and Xhekaj currently playing in the minors, the Canadiens have the depth to move on from Harris and could use a goal scoring threat in return. The Lightning have a thin prospect pool but one of their best would definitely interest the Canadiens.
Ethan Gauthier just slid out of the first round of last year's NHL Draft and was taken 37th overall by the Lightning. He played the past two seasons alongside Joshua Roy with the Sherbrooke Phoenix and has 16 goals and 33 points in 30 QMJHL games this season for the Drummondville Votigeurs who are expected to go on a deep playoff run.
Guathier is in just his 18 year old season and had 30 goals and 69 points in 66 games a year ago. He would add a young scoring threat to the prospect pool which is something the Canadiens are sorely lacking. With the way the Lightning make trades recently, you could expect a couple of draft picks heading the Habs way as well since they are giving up more of a sure thing.
Trade Arber Xhekaj For Cutter Gauthier
The Philadelphia Flyers are actually good this season and it feels like it has been a long time since we have been able to say that. They play in a very tough Metropolitan Division, but find themselves in second place after 30 games this season.
No one expected that, and they will now have some tough decision to make on the blue line as the season goes along. When the trade deadline arrives, the Flyers will have three regular defensemen as pending unrestricted free agents who would typically be trade bait at that time. But if they are still in the running for home ice advantage in a playoff series, they won't be dealing Nick Seeler, Sean Walker or Marc Staal.
Instead, they would be looking to add someone to absorb the eventual loss of a couple of those guys as free agents in the summer. Enter Arber Xhekaj. Is there a better fit in the entire hockey world between player and coach than Xhekaj would be with John Tortorella? Enough said there, obviously the Flyers would be interested.
The Canadiens would be too but they would need a young potential top six forward if they are going to move a unique player like Xhekaj. The Flyers have a lot of good young wingers that fit the description like Joel Farabee, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink and also have super highly skilled Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov on the way.
Any of them would make sense but I don't see the Flyers trading their top prospects Gauthier or Michkov. Bobby Brink has some familiarity with Cole Caufield and would fit the description as young goal scoring potential top six winger of the near future.
Trade Mike Matheson For Ryan Leonard
The absolute best case scenario for the Canadiens is to take advantage of a desperate team and give them something that helps them now, but get something that helps the Canadiens for a very long time.
The Washington Capitals would fit that description as they are running out of good Alex Ovechkin years and if they are going to win another Stanley Cup with him on the team they are going to have to do it quickly.
The Capitals are technically outside the playoff picture but by points percetnage they are the top wildcard team in the Eastern Conference. They have struggled to score goals but do have Max Pacioretty set to join the team in the next couple of weeks off his second achilles injury. If anywhere near healthy, he should be able to add some offense.
The Capitals could also look to add some scoring from the back end. Mike Matheson has 20 points in 30 games for the Canadiens this season and would help jumpstart the Capitals offense by carrying the puck up ice and getting the play out of the defensive zone and into the attacking end. He plays a ton of minutes and would ease the pressure on veteran John Carlson and youngster Rasmus Sandin to provide scoring from the back end.
As a desperate team, the Capitals once traded Filip Forsberg for a few months of Martin Erat. That was a long time ago and this proposal is nowhere near as one-sided as Matheson would surely find a role in the Capitals top six and help them at both ends of the rink for the next two and a half seasons.
To absorb the contract, the Canadiens could take back Anthony Mantha, who the Caps have been trying to get rid of, and actually save the Capitals some cap space. In order to do that, the Canadiens would need to be compensated greatly.
Ryan Leonard was the Capitals top pick in last year's NHL Draft and is a feisty, hard-nosed winger who is scoring just over a point per game with Boston College as a freshman. The Canadiens would have to wait a couple years for him to be a top six performer but he projects to be a Tom Wilson type of player that every team would love to have. That would be a perfect fit alongside Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.