3 Canadiens on The Athletic's Big Trade Board
The Athletic has published the sixth version of its big trade board and there are three Montreal Canadiens on there.
If the Montreal Canadiens had managed to stay in the mix, things might have been different, but in the latest version The Athletic's big trade board, there are three Montreal Canadiens on 32 players.
The players are ranked by how closely they demand watching in light of their potential impact and the buzz surrounding them. The first Hab on the list is David Savard who comes in 12th place, followed by Joel Armia at number 18 and Jake Evans is the last Canadiens player at number 27.
Four defensemen are above Savard on the list, but only one of them (Bowen Byram) has a Stanley Cup ring, none has the experience the veteran blueliner can bring to a contender. The limited number of blueliners available probably explains why the 34 years old is so high on the list. A defensive defenseman who blocks a lot of shots (11th in the NHL) is an asset any contender could use.
The buzz surrounding Armia most likely comes from how responsible he can be defensively and how effective a penalty killer he is. The Finn has three shorthanded goals this season, the third highest total in the league behind Sam Reinhart (who has five) and Anthony Cirelli (who has four). Earlier this season, Patrik Laine told the media his countryman would like to spend the rest of his career in Montreal, but that seems pretty unlikely to to happen right now.
As for Jake Evans, he's proven himself to be very versatile over the years and his enjoying the best season of his career. His increased offensive contribution earlier in the season made it look like he might just price himself out of town, but he's come back down to earth of late. Still, he has three shorthanded tallies (just like Armia) and five game-winning goals. I believe the Canadiens would still like to sign him for an extension which explains why he's so low on the board.
The trade market has already heated up with some big names moving already, but it's likely to be fairly quiet during the 4 Nations Face-Off since there's no urgency to make deals when nobody's playing.
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