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Habs Daily: Laine Trade Analysis, Askarov, Harris Bids Farewell

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Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Monday.



Montreal Canadiens News

The Montreal Canadiens took a major swing by trading for Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine. It was a surprising move to a certain extent, but there’s no doubt the Habs could stand to add more offensive firepower. [LAINE SURPRISE! Canadiens Trade for Former 40-Goal Scorer]

Much has been made about Laine’s recent dip in production, but as per usual, the issue has been exaggerated. The fact of the matter is that the team used an organizational excess, left-handed defencemen, to address a weakness that has plagued the team for decades.  [Habs Analysis: Patrik Laine Trade Uses Strength To Solve Weakness]

Jordan Harris, the player sent to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Laine, bid farewell to his former team on Monday night. While it’s exciting that the Canadiens have acquired a player with offensive know how, there’s no doubt Harris was a very smart and talented young man. He has untapped potential, which could be unlocked by giving him more ice time. In professional sports there’s a trend where fans turn on players who were traded, but that won’t be the case for Harris, as he was loved by Canadiens for the aforementioned reasons, in addition to his impressive leadership off the ice.

Laine met with the media to discuss his opportunity to play for the most successful team in NHL history. We all know about his past, which means we should give him a relatively long runway to find his rhythm in Montreal. That being said, it’s hard to project a situation in which the 26-year-old is not motivated to return to his former goal-scoring ways.

The Nashville Predators want to trade goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, and though the Habs could have used goalie reinforcements in past years, it’s no longer a pressing issue for the organization. [The Canadiens And The Yaroslav Askarov Trade Situation]

Forward Juraj Slafkovsky will not participate in Slovakia’s bid to earn an Olympic berth. Some, including Slovakian hockey leaders, may see this as a greedy decision by the Canadiens, but it speaks to the importance Slafkovsky has to the organization, the lineup, and their hopes to turn the corner in the rebuild.

Habs prospects David Reinbacher and Vinzenz Rohrer, on the other hand, will be present in Austria’s lineup.

With all due respect to Ryan Reaves, it’s hard to suggest he’s the toughest player in the NHL when he plays so little and makes such a small impact on the Leafs’ lineup. Other players who win more fights are given more minutes while actually producing reasonably good underlying numbers, including Arber Xhekaj. That being said, I’d argue former Hab Nicolas Deslauriers deserves to be a little higher on the list.


National Hockey Now Network

The Pittsburgh Penguins made significant additions to their hockey operations staff, making nine new hires, including an analytics guru who helped the Tampa Bay Rays, a new head trainer, and promoted assistant general manager Jason Spezza. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

The New Jersey Devils have figured out their plan for goaltending in 2024-25. Certainly, it will be in a much stronger spot — at least on paper — than where it was at the beginning of 2023-24. On Monday, it was reported that a previous goaltender of interest requested a trade from his current organization. However, a Devils trade for Yaroslav Askarov appears unlikely. [New Jersey Devils]

In lieu of a new round of Alexei Kolosov reports that suggest a return in 2024-25 is unlikely, the Philadelphia Flyers are presented with a new potential trade option in the form of disgruntled Nashville Predators goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov. [Philadelphia Flyers]

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