Members of the New Jersey Devils' organization have been keeping a close eye on the Montreal Canadiens lately, and one can wonder why...
The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Montreal Canadiens stood pat in the end, but GM Kent Hughes explained that he was hard at work on a significant trade that didn’t come to fruition in the end, but he added that it could be revisited in the summer.
Of course, Hughes didn’t give any details about either the target of the deal or the team he was speaking with. Still, Montreal being what it is, speculation ran wild over who the GM was trying to acquire, with Matthew Knies and Nico Hischier being the two most mentioned names.
However, since then, Brad Treliving has been fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs, just like Tom Fitzgerald was shown the door by the New Jersey Devils. If either Knies or Hischier was the GM’s target, it may be hard to revisit that potential trade with a new interlocutor.
Still, one team has been watching the Canadiens closely of late. Even after the trade deadline, scouts still attend the Habs’ games at the Bell Centre, and the Devils have been regular attendees, with various members of the organization taking in the action. Andre Savard (pro scout) and Al Santilli (director of player personnel) have both been there a few times, separately and together. Ryan Fitzgerald (pro scout), Joe Benson and Don Godfrey (Utica Comets staff, the Devil’s AHL affiliate) were also there twice at the end of March. However, that was when the Comets were in town playing the Laval Rocket.
It will be interesting to see if members of New Jersey’s organization are still there on Thursday when the Canadiens take on the Tampa Bay Lightning and Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since the Devils only fired Fitzgerald on Tuesday, it’s reasonable to believe that so far, those who were in attendance were there under his orders. If they still attend, it will be a sign that his dismissal has not dampened New Jersey’s interest. Something to keep an eye on while we wait for the regular season to wrap up and the playoffs to kick off.
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