5 seemingly unreasonable offseason moves that would make sense for the Canadiens

Signing an aging defenseman as a stopgap

This would make sense, thanks to my final counterintuitive offseason move, but I wanted to tackle this area first. An aging defenseman would bring a sound level of leadership for a year, and they would also make an outstanding mentor for the young crop of blueliners who could find themselves in the Habs rotation next season. 

Sure, David Savard is there, but he’s someone who should go elsewhere via trade this summer. An older player in their age-35 season or later, one who enjoyed success this past year as a member of a successful, playoff-bound hockey team, would be more than ideal. And best yet, they could come at a slightly cheaper price than keeping Savard for the final year of his deal, even if that difference would be rather minute. 

There are a few players who will be available this July, like Ian Cole or Tyler Myers, just to mention a couple of names. Another reason to bring in an older defender as a one-year stopgap is because this would also be the ideal time to trade a productive blueliner. 

Trading Michael Matheson

Right now, Michael Matheson’s trade value would be more than through the roof, as he’s coming off of a 62-point, 11-goal season. Matheson will be heading into his age-30 campaign, so he’s still in his prime, but it’s a mystery of how much good hockey he still has left or if he will even hit those aforementioned numbers again.

But he was effective everywhere on the ice this year, and not just in the offensive zone. Matheson blocked 186 shots and stole the puck 49 times, all while logging a career-high 25:33 of average total ice time. 

Matheson also wasn’t great at scoring double-digit goals, nor did he fare well in putting up 60-plus points until this season. So his value is high, even if it seems counterintuitive to trade him. But for a team still in building mode, there is a lot of young talent and potential draft picks that a contender for 2024-25 would exchange for Matheson. That said, it’s best a team like the Canadiens trade him while his value is at or near its maximum level. 

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)