What will the Canadiens be up to on the trade market?
Is one of the hottest teams in the NHL looking to add to its roster?
The Montreal Canadiens have been riding ever since their magical run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. The team has many weapons – Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson – all of which have helped the Canadiens look like a team that will contend for the Atlantic Division.
That said, even the best teams are always trying to find ways to get better. If Montreal stays on its current path, it might be looking to add later on.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to discuss what the Habs might do in the trade market.
David Pagnotta: I think they’re gonna be a team that’s gonna be looking. They’re gonna be lurking. They’re gonna be making sure, like they usually do, and Kent Hughes is great at this. He wants to know what’s out there. He wants to know who’s available. He’s collecting all of his information. If they make another big splash, and they made a big one in the summer, they picked up Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders, something along those lines would not shock me for the Montreal Canadiens to be engaged in that level of conversation.
A lot of cap space for this group. They’ve got a lot of good young assets, plus still a pretty solid cupboard with respect to draft picks. We’ll see what opportunities present themselves, but you know we’ve touched on this in previous weeks of teams like Carolina, Utah, and Ottawa being teams willing to go big game hunting. I think the Montreal Canadiens are also in that boat. They’re not afraid to engage in those types of conversations. Whether it’s a centerman, which seems to be the primary with respect to the 2C role, Nick Suzuki’s locked in, obviously, on the top line. But if they can pull in, be it a 2C or another top-six caliber, likely for the second-line scoring winger, I wouldn’t be surprised if they go in that direction.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…