Two players to buy and one prospect to sell for the Canadiens at the trade deadline

Player to buy: Connor Dewar

Connor Dewar is a young player who could be on the move from the Minnesota Wild at the deadline, and like Kakko, he’s another forward you put onto the lower lines and let him make life difficult for opposing scorers. Also, like Kakko, Dewar doesn’t score much, with just 13 points in 56 games, but he is a physical player who will make opponents think twice about skating around him. 

He is also someone a young team like the Canadiens can trust on their penalty kill. In 2022-23, Dewar contributed 132.1 minutes of ice time on the PK unit, and his presence led to the Wild snagging an astounding 93.6 save percentage and just seven goals allowed. 

His numbers haven’t been as good this season, with 15 goals allowed and an 85.8 on-ice save percentage across 118.1 minutes. But even with the slight regression, Dewar would still be a huge benefit on the Canadiens penalty kill, given the team’s well below-average 74.16 success rate through the first three-quarters of the season. 

While defense is primarily Dewar’s game, we learned this season that you can’t underestimate his shot. Dewar’s nine goals are more than he had in his previous two combined, and he is also riding a 16.7 shooting percentage. 

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and Elite Prospects as of March 5th)