David Savard is about to embark on the final year of the four-year contract he signed with the Montreal Canadiens in 2021.

After spending the first 10 years of his career with the Columbus Blue Jackets, David Savard was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the run-up to the 2021 trade deadline in a three-way trade with the Detroit Red Wings. In return for the rugged blueliner, the Jackets pocketed two draft picks; a first-rounder in 2021 and a third-rounder in 2022.

Savard played 14 regular season games for John Cooper's side and 20 playoffs matches. As you'll no doubt recall, the Lightning went all the way to the Stanley Cup final that year, taking on the Montreal Canadiens and beating them in five games to claim hockey's biggest prize for the second year in a row.

Savard elected to sign with the Canadiens that off-season and has since been an excellent soldier for Montreal. 

Last Season

While he has never been an offensive defenseman, Savard's production has been going in an upward trajectory since joining the Canadiens. He put up 17 and 20 points and his first two campaigns in Montreal and added 24 points to his tally this past season. Six of those 24 points were goals, which made his shooting percentage 11.1% on the year, a real anomaly considering he has averaged 4.9% throughout his career. 

As always, he was a shot blocking machine with 163, second only to Kaiden Guhle on the team who had a whopping 178, the 14th highest total in the league while Savard came in at 24th but only played 60 games compared to the youngster's 70. 

The veteran averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game (20:14) down from 22:23 a year before. The reduce usage isn't an indictment of his work however, it only goes to show the Canadiens' young blueliner is maturing quite well. 

As is always the case in Montreal, there were a lot of trade rumours about the D-man, especially around the trade deadline but Kent Hughes elected to keep him around. The GM explained his decision as follows in his post trade deadline press conference:

For us, David is a part of this team. He’s not someone we were actively looking to trade. His value to the team and to our young defensemen is very important to us. That doesn’t mean he’s untradeable, but it wasn’t our objective. […] Not everything we do can be strictly based on maximizing asset value – ultimately, we’re trying to build a hockey team. If a player has value to us in terms of what we’re trying to build by being physically present and part of our organization, then that’s going to trump trading him later for something a little bit inferior, because there’s value in his time with us.

A true testament to Savard's work with the organization's young D-corps. While some expected to see the back of him this Summer, the Sainte-Hyacinthe native is still in Montreal and nothing seems to indicate the situation will change. Hughes made some room for new blueliners this season, but he did it by sending Jonathan Kovacevic and Jordan Harris to other teams, keeping the veteran presence around to help said new blueliners along the way. 

What to Expect 

Essentially, more of the same. It's not out of the question his ice time could go down a bit more this year with Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Strubble and Justin Baron all being a year older and a trio of young defensemen knocking on the big league's doors in Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher. The last two being right-shot blueliners, their presence on the roster could have a direct impact on Savard's workload. 

Speaking of the youngsters, they'll be the next crop of kids the veteran will have to guide through their first year of being in the NHL (if one or more make it). While he won't be the one giving Hutson tips on his offensive game, he can definitely give him pointers on how to be a good pro and how to behave under the Montreal looking glass. 

The Habs brass has been quite clear about wanting the team to be in the mix for a playoffs spot for longer this season, but even if that objective is met, it wouldn't be surprising to see Savard finally be moved at the deadline now that he's on an expiring deal. As long as there is value in the offer made of course since Hughes' comments from last season will still be valid. The big blueliner's presence on the team is worth something and the Canadiens already have 12 picks for the 2025 Draft and 9 for the 2026 one. 

Key in the decision to move him will also be the presence of a new right-shot blueliner and whether he can handle the increased ice time Savard's departure would bring. If Mailloux or Reinbacher look solid enough to be thrown in the deep end, the Quebecer might have to make way. 

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