Montreal Canadiens Aren’t Done Tinkering With Blue line

The Montreal Canadiens haven’t been shy about saying they’re unsatisfied with their defensive depth on the right side, and they’re actively looking for a solution.

On a recent episode of Insider Trading, NHL Insider Darren Dreger mentioned that, among the many Canadien teams looking for help on the back end, Montreal was looking to bolster the depth of their right side.

“I can tell you that those are the teams (Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver) that are in the market for a defenceman,” said Dreger. “If you look at Montreal, they’re definitely looking for a right-shot defenceman.”

It’s interesting to point out that, even after the claiming of Jonathan Kovacevic on waivers, the Canadiens are still in the hunt for another right-shot defenceman to bolster their depth on the right side. Even though Kovacevic has handled himself well on a pair with Jordan Harris so far this season, they’re still looking to add a veteran presence on the back end, at least in the short term.

Montreal Hockey Now reported last month that Kent Hughes was in the hunt right-shot defenceman that could bring a veteran presence into the locker room and help bring along the youngsters that will be rotating in and out of the lineup. Although this information has been divulged openly by the general manager in the past, he’s persisted in trying to make a move since the preseason.

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It’s not expected that the Canadiens will go after a big fish like Jacob Chychrun, but they are exploring various options at the moment, as the lineup is too congested at forward for the club to have any roster flexibility. The Canadiens have had to play yo-yo with Corey Schueneman this week just to be able to able to recall Cayden Primeau to backup Samuel Montembeault, which hasn’t sat well with Martin St. Louis.

With the start of an NHL season always being particularly quiet on the trade front and many teams are still in the evaluation phase, it will be interesting to see if something shakes loose in the next month.