Canadiens Potential Trade Targets For Florida’s 1st-Round Pick

The Montreal Canadiens will be looking into dangling the Florida Panthers’ 1st-round pick to add another young, core piece to their roster.

Similar to last summer, when the Canadiens leveraged the 13th and 66th overall picks to acquire Kirby Dach, the Canadiens have an interest in adding to their core via trade this summer as well.

With the Florida Panthers‘ pick likely to fall at 17th overall, unless they go on a Cinderella run in the NHL Playoffs, it could be an interesting asset to dangle for teams looking to get an extra pick in the coveted 2023 NHL Draft.

Here are a couple of options the Canadiens could look at to improve their club for the long term:

Kaapo Kakko

Picked right before Kirby Dach in the 2019 NHL Draft, Kaapo Kakko hasn’t yet found his niche in the NHL at the age of 22.

The Rangers added the likes of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko at the NHL Trade Deadline and will likely look to retain both players this summer, after they both pushed for trades to the Big Apple.

Alexis Lafrenière has shown some progress down the stretch, and other top prospects like Brendan Othmann and Will Cuylle will be pushing for spots as early as next year.

With such a glut of forwards available and a seemingly impossible ceiling of star players for Kakko to pierce through, he could make for an excellent target for Montreal, who need a scoring winger with size in their top six.

The basis of the deal around the 17th overall pick, but limited to just the pick itself, the Montreal Canadiens could bank on Kakko’s potential and provide him with a golden opportunity to play a premier role on a rebuilding club.

Kaapo Kakko with a BEAUTY

His 18th of the season and his 40th point.

First time in his career hitting the 40-point mark. #NYR pic.twitter.com/gVHWRUc5cq

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) April 14, 2023

Alex Newhook

Alex Newhook is another interesting candidate for general manager Kent Hughes, as the two have a very familiar relationship.

The player selected immediately after Cole Caufield at 16th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft had a lot of hype behind him after a very successful NCAA career, but has seemingly regressed this season after a 33-point rookie year.

He failed to truly establish himself as a top-six player with the competitive Avalanche this season when they needed it most and could be looking for a change in scenery to get back to the style of play that made him so effective in college.

That is precisely the style that head coach Martin St-Louis has been implanting in Montreal, as the Canadiens want to play a high-tempo offensive game that is focused on transition and high-end skill.

That described Newhook in a nutshell.

Whether it be as a winger or centre, Newhook would be in a ripe environment to have his top qualities optimized by St-Louis style and method of coaching, in a far less stressful environment than that of the Avalanche, who are in a win-now setting.

Alex Newhook with a gift of a rebound on his birthday 🎂🎉 pic.twitter.com/zJzR3oHqll

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 28, 2023

Pierre-Luc Dubois

Then there’s Pierre-Luc Dubois, who will forever be linked to the Montreal Canadiens until some sort of closure is brought to his contractual situation.

Heading into this summer as a restricted free agent (RFA), Dubois has openly spoken about his desire to get through the season and weigh his options once the dust settles.

The has been a significant amount of talk linking Dubois to Montreal as recently as last week, and it seems the momentum hasn’t stopped since last summer.

Naturally, the 17th overall pick would likely not be enough on its own for the Canadiens to make such a move, especially if Dubois comes with an eight-year contract, but it would be a good starting point.

Dubois would instantly provide the Canadiens with an impressive group of centres with Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach, all while giving St-Louis significant flexibility with the makeup of his lines.

For Winnipeg, a package centred around such a pick could help them to quickly retool and potentially flip the pick themselves in a deal for a more mature player that has some term left on their contract.

Just one minute later and Pierre-Luc Dubois makes it a two-goal lead! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/aSCKPXfwuj

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 19, 2023