loading . . . Montreal Canadiens trade deadline rumours This Friday, March 6 will be the trade deadline for the 2025-26 NHL season. It is one of the more unique deadlines in recent memory, since the Olympic trade freeze left a three-week gap where some teams may normally have executed some of their moves ahead of time. Now, on a bit of a time crunch, we’ll see what GMs around the league are able to pull off before the clock strikes midnight.
The Montreal Canadiens haven’t been linked to many names, but it is no secret that they would like to make some additions to help them compete in a hellacious Atlantic Division. So let’s discuss the names that they have been mentioned alongside up until now, and whether or not these feel like anything more than rumours.
Robert Thomas, C, St. Louis Blues
Let’s get the belle of the ball out of the way quickly here. Thomas is a 26-year-old centre who has eclipsed the 80-point mark in both of his last two seasons. He’s been slowed down by injury and the general struggles of the Blues this year, but is still without a doubt the biggest name floating around as trade bait before the March 6 deadline. Most years, you don’t see players like this even being discussed at the deadline.
The Habs have been trying to solve their 2C problem for some time, and a one-two punch of Nick Suzuki and Thomas down the middle of their lineup would be tantalizing, to say the least. Put him between Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, work Oliver Kapanen into a bottom-six role, and all of a sudden the Habs look like a much more complete team than they are right now. Notwithstanding their question marks in net right now, you could argue that Thomas in this lineup puts them close to contender status.
It’s easy to see why they’d be interested. He’s signed for five more years at a touch over $8 million AAV, barely above the Suzuki contract. They would have a fantastic forward corps locked up for the foreseeable future, and putting aside whether they’d be considered contenders right now, their window would be opening nice and wide. The problem is that they will be far from the only team interested in acquiring Thomas.
Likelihood? Won’t be easy.
Insiders have opined that Thomas could be dealt, but there’s no indication that the Blues are actively shopping him, and why would they? Reports suggest that a number of teams including the Habs would be interested, so they can just sit there and wait for someone to blow them away with a trade offer. Detroit has been mentioned, Boston, Utah, and the list goes on. If a king’s ransom doesn’t materialize, they can simply keep a strong, young centre who is under a great contract for the next five years. Players like this aren’t often up for discussion at the deadline, so he won’t come cheap.
The Habs would need to put together an attractive package, likely including Michael Hage and several picks to get it done, and even then they’d probably need Patrik Laine off the books to make the money work. That is a challenge on its own, as the general sentiment is that they’d need to attach assets as a sweetener just to move his contract. As discussed, Thomas an extremely desirable addition, but the question is whether Hughes is willing to pull the trigger and move as many assets as he needs to now, or remain patient since his team looks to be ahead of schedule.
This seems like the kind of move that Hughes would want to try and do in the offseason, or at the draft. The problem is that if he really wants this player, it could be too late to put something together by then. If he wants this player, he’s going to have to pull off something big in the next few days, and opinions vary on whether now is the right time to push that many chips into the centre of the table.
Nazem Kadri, C, Calgary Flames
You’ll sense a theme here, as centre is the most obvious area of need for the Habs, and they have also been mentioned ad nauseam in media coverage of potential destinations for Kadri. He has 41 points through 59 games this season with the Flames, has Stanley Cup experience, boasts a strong two-way game, and like Thomas can slot in behind Nick Suzuki easily.
He is also 35 years old, and signed for another three years after this season. There’s no doubt he’s a fit for the Habs right now, and a solid stopgap until Michael Hage is ready to rock, but you’re burning assets to acquire a player who could decline very sharply before his deal is up. Where Thomas helps you open a contender’s window for some time, Kadri is much more of a win-now addition. Are the Habs at a point where they should be making win-now moves? They have been right there in the top three of their division for the better part of the season, but patience could see them become true contenders for a longer period of time.
Likelihood? We’ll see.
This could solve a problem for Hughes at a much lower cost than the aforementioned Thomas, but as tends to be the case with centres, Hughes won’t be the only suitor. The other team most often mentioned in Kadri conversations is the one he won his ring with, the Colorado Avalanche. It stands to reason that the top team in the NHL is more in win-now mode than a team just coming to the end of their rebuild, and if they want him, they’d likely be willing to part ways with a fair bit more than the Habs would.
Him being 35 and signed for three more years is much less of a concern for Colorado. They’re the favourites, and they want to stack the deck right now. If they overpay for him and win another cup, nobody will care. If Montreal overpay for him, it could cause a stutter step in the opening of their own window. The price has to be right for the Habs, and that means no chance in hell that Michael Hage can be involved as he would likely be in a Thomas deal.
Rasmus Ristolainen, RD, Philadelphia Flyers
More than a few pundits have pointed out that it seems too easy to get to the front of the Habs’ net lately, hence the suggestion for them to go after a big, bruising defenceman. He won’t light up the score sheet, but he’s not there to do that, he’s there to make it difficult for other teams to operate in the offensive zone.
With them already alternating between Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble on the back end, this seems odd to even consider unless one of those players is headed the other way. Frankly, there doesn’t appear to be much of an upgrade at all if comparing him to the two younger defenders.
Credit: Evolving Hockey
Likelihood? Forget about it.
I put him here more for the simple fact that the Habs have been identified as a team that checked in on him than anything else. Subsequent reports from the likes of Elliotte Friedman have stated those conversations did not go very far, so it sounds like either the price was too high, or Kent Hughes was just doing some general due diligence.
Maybe that changes. Maybe the Flyers get no bites and Kent Hughes can circle back and try to get a cheap price, but it sounds like this one was just general shopping and nothing substantial.
Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues
Binnington is a Stanley Cup champion, a Four Nations champion, and an Olympic silver medallist. Nobody can take these accomplishments from him, and he is seemingly trusted by Hockey Canada more than Toyota Corollas on the used car market. Kent Hughes might be in the used car market with how his goaltending has been this season, and there have been some whispers that Montreal is a potential destination for him.
Darren Dreger called Montreal a longshot to land Binnington. The whispers appear to be nothing more than whispers, but since his name has been mentioned, we’re just talking here.
Likelihood? Please don’t.
For all the trust Hockey Canada has in Binnington, who admittedly played well at the Olympics, he has the worst numbers of any goalie to play more than 20 games in the NHL this season. Acquiring him would be a gamble that he somehow returns to some semblance of his 2019 self, which he’d have to do without a super team in front of him. I’m not sure how this would be remotely palatable for most of the fan base, to say nothing of how the media would react to an Ontarian coming in to replace a French-Canadian goaltender.
Montembeault has had his struggles, but he’s been objectively better between the pipes in the NHL this season. Jakub Dobes has been better than both. Acquiring a more expensive goaltender ($6 million AAV) who also has next year remaining on his deal feels like an ill-advised hail mary while leading in the fourth quarter. Goaltending has been spotty, but it hasn’t stopped the team from being ahead of where most were projecting them to be, so there is no reason to make a move on that front. If Binnington had better numbers than Montembeault, this could make some sense. He doesn’t, so going off pedigree and a ring won seven years ago seems silly.
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While these are the names that have been linked to the Habs in some way, we also know that the Kent Hughes camp is not exactly prone to leaks. More names could pop up over the course of the week that were not discussed here, and we’ll certainly get to those if and when they do.
A lot of their deadline moves, or lack thereof, could hinge on whether or not anything happens with Laine. Right now it doesn’t seem like they have a good spot for him in the lineup, and barring a move to clear his salary, most deals are rendered tougher to complete.
For now, what do you think? Are there any names discussed today that you’d like to see in Tricolore by next week? Have your say in the comments below. http://dlvr.it/TRFSJw
