Montreal Canadiens Options For Early-Season Trades

The Montreal Canadiens are off to a very difficult start to the season. Given the personnel in place, it isn’t overly surprising, but we all know how quickly losses can lead to roster changes.

As Pierre LeBrun explained on Insider Trading, Kent Hughes has started to make calls to other general managers, and is gauging the current trade market in the NHL.

“There’s pressure internally and externally to take a meaningful step this year,” said LeBrun. “And because of that, I don’t think the slow start is being ignored by the Habs. What I’m told from talking about GMs around the league, is that Kent Hughes has started to call around, is doing his due diligence, to get a sense of what’s potentially out there.”

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While the prospect of a trade is interesting, we also have to remember Hughes is a very active general manager. Gauging the market is the first step to all trades, but we shouldn’t expect a ground-breaking trade to occur in the near future.

“I think the Canadiens would be open to making a move here that would help shakeup the makeup of the team, and help them win games.” said LeBrun. “The reality is there are almost no trades at this time of year. I don’t think there’s anything imminent, but, I think it’s noteworthy that the Habs aren’t just sitting there, and saying “oh well, we’re off to a slow start, that’s life!”. No, I think it has fuelled Kent Hughes to maybe make more calls than me might have, this early in the season.

“The other thing is, they’re right at the cap, so it has to be apple for salary coming in, and salary coming out.”

While LeBrun is quite correct in saying teams rarely make deals at this early point of the season, the Montreal Canadiens do have cap space available, to the tune of roughly $7 million. There are some spending concerns to keep in mind, such as players returning to the lineup from injury, but as it stands, Hughes has some financial manoeuvrability.

Potential Montreal Canadiens Trade Targets

The good news is that the Canadiens will not risk their potential long-term success for short-term value, which means fans can rest easy knowing the young core is safe. We can probably extend that logic to most players under 25 years old, however, as we saw this summer, 24-year-old defenceman Jordan Harris was shipped to the Blue Jackets in the trade that saw Patrik Laine join the Canadiens. This suggests the Canadiens are willing to move younger players, though it should be noted Laine is just 26  years old, therefore it was far from a situation that involved mortgaging the future.

The issue becomes which players the Canadiens could actually leverage into a quality asset on the trade market, and when evaluating the options as to the ideal players to move, the candidates are few and far between.

David Savard is likely to be able to fetch some value, and many fans identified him as the player most likely to move this season, but even before the Canadiens started dealing with the yearly injury bug, moving the only right-handed defenceman with lots of NHL experience carried a certain risk. The fact of the matter is that the Habs do have some young, talented defencemen in place, and Savard’s contract expires this summer, but the team is far from ready to compete, as evidenced by the dismal defensive results this season.

Some of that has to do with the team’s new man-to-man defensive zone strategy, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue the young defensive core can afford to lose one of the few veterans in the lineup, especially since it’s doubtful the return in trade centred on Savard would yield an asset that could help a team win this season. It’s likely they can only get a mid-round pick for the 34-year-old, and frankly, the Canadiens don’t need more mid-round picks, as they’re already overflowing with prospects.

They could certainly trade Arber Xhekaj, but as I have mentioned ad nauseam when the yearly criticism regarding his play surfaces, relative to the other defencemen used in the same situation, Xhekaj’s underlying numbers have been stellar. No, Jayden Struble could not immediately take over and produce better results. He needs more time to acclimatize to the speed in the NHL. Trading Xhekaj would make the Canadiens are worse team, statistically speaking. They’d also lose a player who never hesitates to show emotion, or defend his teammates, and has an undying sense of loyalty toward the team.

It’s also worth pointing out that most, if not all teams would be interested in acquiring Xhekaj. Thus, the return would be decent, but there’s a very good reason why most NHL teams would not hesitate to acquire him, and immediately give him a permanent roster spot in the NHL. In that sense, there may be a good fit here, as it seems the Canadiens have been rather cold when dealing with their 23-year-old defenceman. Perhaps a fresh start in a new market would be best for Xhekaj’s future.

We’ve never heard Coach Marty sound as tough & strict talking about a Habs player during a press conference as he did talking about Arber Xhekaj today.

Here’s the clip: pic.twitter.com/NQWWOaPYNk

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) October 25, 2024

Realistically speaking, players such as Josh Anderson, Joel Armia, and Christian Dvorak won’t fetch much on the trade market. If anything, the Habs would probably have to pay a team to absorb their contracts. Brendan Gallagher shouldn’t be considered in the same boat as the three aforementioned players. He’s producing fantastic underlying numbers compared to most of the lineup, and he’s making a positive impact. This doesn’t mean the team cannot trade him, as they’d be foolish to ignore an opportunity to unload his contract, but trading Gallagher would not guarantee you end up with the better asset, and he’s one of the few players who is giving his all every night. That’s an important contribution for a team that has struggled to maintain a heightened level of effort since the start of the year. It’s difficult to remove the stench of losing from the locker room, and Gallagher is a player who can help in that respect.

All things considered, despite the slow start, it seems the best, or perhaps the only approach for the Montreal Canadiens is staying the course, and hopefully, adding another top prospect to the mix at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.