The Montreal Canadiens have been hit hard by injuries, but GM Kent Hughes is not the panic move type. He won't overpay for a forward who doesn't fit his long-term vision for the team.
Kent Hughes is used to working under pressure; after all, it comes with the job when you’re the Montreal Canadiens’ GM, but the recent injuries to significant cogs of the Habs’ attack must have turned it up a notch. Last season, his team exceeded expectations by making the playoffs and this season, it had a red-hot start, but it’s now in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
While Montreal hung near the top of the standings for the first month of the season and admirably withstood the losses of Patrik Laine and Kaiden Guhle, losing Alex Newhook for four months and Kirby Dach for four to six weeks has thrown a spanner in the works. The Canadiens were rumoured to be looking for a second-line center last summer, when everyone was healthy.
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It's not hard to conclude that they’re looking even more right now, but as Marco D’Amico explains in his latest article for Research Ground, the trade market is at a standstill right now. It’s definitely a seller’s market, not a buyer’s. There is such parity in the league at the moment that very few teams are ready to embrace the role of seller.
Players likely to be available, like Steven Stamkos from the Nashville Predators and Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames, are on the older side and not the kind of players Kent Hughes would want to overspend on. According to Jeff Marek on the Sekeres and Price show, Montreal is monitoring Stamkos’ situation. Still, with the 35-year-old under contract for two more years and carrying an 8-million cap hit, it doesn’t sound particularly appealing. Unless, of course, coach Martin St-Louis believes he can make Stamkos produce like he did in his Tampa Bay days, but it’s been over 10 years since the two played together under the Florida sunshine, and time waits for no man.
The connection would probably mean St-Louis could easily get Stamkos to waive his no-movement clause, but I don’t see Hughes pulling the trigger on a deal that could hinder his team in the long run. Of course, Stamkos would be beneficial right now with so many injuries plaguing the Canadiens, but what happens next season when players are all healthy and youngsters are knocking on the NHL door? The aging veteran would stand in the way of younger players who are candidates for long-term roles with the Habs. That’s something Hughes has said he wouldn’t do. The same comments also apply to Kadri, although his case is even worse since he’s signed for one more year.
As D’Amico reports, a couple of names are being mentioned from Missouri, where the St. Louis Blues may be looking to move players (Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn). Still, they don’t identify themselves as sellers, which means they’d be after a hockey deal and not one involving futures like a rebuilding team may be willing to accept. It’s also worth noting that Schenn is 34 and has signed for another two years, making him an option similar to Stamkos and Kadri. At 27, Kyrou could be a more interesting option, but he's yet another winger and is signed for another five years at an $8.125 cap hit. Would Hughes be willing to invest in a player with that cap hit but who has never scored more than 75 points? That remains to be seen, and even if he was, St-Louis want a hockey deal and would likely ask for pieces that the Canadiens are not willing to sacrifice.
If the tweaks made by St-Louis to the lineup prove to be successful, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Canadiens weather the storm rather than overpaying for what should have been a temporary fix rather than a headache not so far down the line.
Jeff Gorton and Hughes have always been clear that they would let the rebuild process follow its course, and while another appearance in the playoffs would no doubt please them, they’re not about to handicap the future of the team to get it.
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