Habs Daily: Canadiens Trade Bait, 5th Overall NHL Draft Targets

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories from Thursday.

Montreal Canadiens News

• Two Montreal Canadiens players appear on Frank Seravalli’s top-25 NHL Trade Bait board.  Defenceman David Savard clocks in at No.18 while centre Christian Dvorak is listed at No.23. Both players should garner some interest according to Seravalli, but seeing as Savard is a right-handed defenceman, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a trade partner in a league where they’re in constant demand. As a reminder, Savard is in the final year of a four-year contract that carries a $3.5 million annual average value. [Daily Faceoff]

• The Montreal Canadiens have a massive selection to make at the 2024 NHL Draft with the 5th overall pick, and we’re starting to gain some clarity over who the targets will be. Since the Canadiens retained their spot in the 2024 draft order after the NHL Draft Lottery, all the talk has been over which player the Canadiens should add to their organization. The clear need is at forward, as the Habs don’t currently have a dynamic offensive prospect in their pool at the moment, with Juraj Slafkovsky and Joshua Roy graduating to the NHL. [Latest Trends Hint At Potential Canadiens Pick At 5th Overall]

• There are no guarantees in life, but it does seem like Lane Hutson’s younger brother, Cole, has some of that Hutson magic in his skill set.[Montreal Canadiens Draft Targets: Cole Hutson Could Spike Interest]

If the Hutson brothers are both drafted in the 2nd round and both hit as superstars I would enjoy it very much, as might they. pic.twitter.com/13LiBcpUy3

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) June 10, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• Kyle Dubas has another opportunity to add some firepower to his lineup this summer, acquiring top talent while shedding valuable but unwanted assets and a minimal expenditure of future assets. However, this time, it will be the mirror opposite. It won’t be an older player at the top of his game like Erik Karlsson, but a younger player who hit the bottom. Patrik Laine. [Pittsburgh Penguins]
• The Florida Panthers had a charter flight which was closely watched by hockey fans across North America on Wednesday afternoon. Due to extreme rain in South Florida, the Panthers flight out of Fort Lauderdale turned out to be delayed three hours — with speculation about whether they would be able to get off the ground building as time went on. On Thursday, a number of Panthers talked about the delay — and how it was not the big deal it was being portrayed as in real time on social media and the like. [Florida Panthers]
• On Thursday’s episode of Nasty Knuckles, a hockey podcast hosted by former Philadelphia Flyers forward Riley Cote and former Flyers equipment manager Derek Settlemyre, Flyers captain Sean Couturier made an appearance, discussing topics ranging from the Stanley Cup playoffs to being healthy scratched by head coach John Tortorella in March. [Philadelphia Flyers]