Canadiens Players Likeliest To Move By NHL Trade Deadline

The Montreal Canadiens took part in their first trade deadline deal on Sunday.

They sent veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov to the Dallas Stars in exchange for 25-year-old Dennis Gurianov.

Simply put, Gurianov epitomizes a short-term reclamation project.

If he can find his rhythm with the Canadiens, the team can either qualify him or negotiate a new contract following the first Monday following the Draft, the deadline to submit qualifying offers.

If he fails to show any promise, the Canadiens can simply let him walk.

What’s Next?

With Dadonov heading to Dallas, there are still a few potential Montreal Canadiens trades between now and the March 3rd deadline.

To get a better idea of who may move, we can take a look at the current trade boards from various sources.

The first is TSN’s Trade Bait board, which originally had Dadonov at 33rd on their list.

TSN believes Sean Monahan, who is yet to make a return to play following an extended injury recovery period, is the Canadiens player most likely to move between now and the trade deadline.

He’s the only Canadiens player remaining on their list.

The Canadiens are quickly running out of time to prove Monahan still holds value on the NHL trade market, but if he does manage to play a game, TSN’s prediction is likely to come true.

Daily Faceoff, on the other hand, did not have Dadonov listed as a potential trade target.

They do, however, have three Canadiens players listed.

Joel Edmundson has fallen out of the top 50 due to his injury, but Monahan makes yet another appearance. They have him listed at 50, which means Canadiens fans should not build up their hopes for a potential trade.

Interestingly, they have Jonathan Drouin listed as the Canadiens player most likely to be dealt, and while many may scoff at that proposal, it’s only fair to point out Drouin is currently enjoying his best stretch of hockey of the season.

A trade involving salary retention is quite possible.

Chris Johnston also had Dadonov on his list (at No.23), though he does not mention Drouin as a potential trade target.

But just like the other two outlets, Johnston believes Monahan is the player to watch.

Given his slow recovery, Canadiens fans should not hold their collective breath for a potential Monahan trade, but the mere fact that he’s still on every trade bait list as the deadline quickly approaches is relatively encouraging.