Canadiens Players Who Should Be Traded This Season The ...

The 2025 NHL Trade Deadline is still far away (March 7), but teams have already started making moves to solve issues and improve themselves, such as the Jacob Trouba saga with the New York Rangers. There has been chatter surrounding just about every club, including the Montreal Canadiens. Realistically, who would or even should general manager (GM) Kent Hughes use as trade bait? What would be the return? Let’s discuss.

Savard, Dvorak, Armia Are Tough Sells

There is a big difference between the players Montreal (and their fans) want to do away with and those who could be dangled as genuine bait. 

For some, cases like forward Christian Dvorak and defenceman David Savard are cut and dry. They don’t contribute enough, cost more than enough, and don’t garner much enthusiasm amongst those who report on or support the club. 

Dvorak is 28 years old and playing in his ninth NHL season. He’s too young to be considered old and too old to be considered young. Players in their late 20s are seen as living the prime years of their careers. Unfortunately, in Dvorak’s case, he missed the entire back end of 2023-24 because of a torn pectoral muscle that required surgery. In 2022-23, he suffered a knee injury, thus putting an abrupt ending to his campaign in March. It’s ostensibly been three years since he’s been mostly healthy. 

He’s playing out the final season of a six-year contract that has an average annual value (AAV) of $4.45 million. In three seasons and change with the Canadiens (as incomplete as some of those seasons have been), he has 28 goals and 50 assists, with his first campaign in Montreal (2020-21) sporting the best stats (11 goals, 22 helpers).

As an unrestricted free agent (UFA) in July 2025, it’s tempting to imagine the Canadiens will simply see him walk out the door. Maybe if a playoff hopeful is desperate for bodies on the third or fourth line, a deal can get done for some draft capital. But that might only come in late February or early March.

Blueliner David Savard, one of the few Québécois natives on the roster, is 34 years old. A 15-year NHL veteran, he doesn’t possess the moxie he once did, but he does have a few things going for him. First, he knows what it’s like to play in a tough market. He’s been a Canadien since the 2021-22 campaign. Second, he has championship experience. His time with the Tampa Bay Lightning was brief, but he was part of the 2020-21 Stanley Cup run. His final game as a Lightning was Game 5 of that season’s Stanley Cup Final against, guess who, the Canadiens. 

His arrival in Montreal was courtesy of a four-year deal with an AAV of $3.5 million. That’s not huge money, especially for someone who had just won the Cup at the time. The Habs were disastrous in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 and so were some of Savard’s numbers (minus-22 and minus-14 ratings, respectively), but he and the team have been slightly better since 2023-24. 

Despite being older than Dvorak, Savard seems like an easier sell, even though he’ll be a UFA next summer. The Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins, and Rangers all are clubs with aspirations of deep playoff runs. For some, it’s championship or bust. This is especially true if it’s a matter of taking on barely half a season’s worth of salary and to see what happens in the playoffs. If it doesn’t work out, fine. He’s a UFA anyway in July. 

In both instances, the Canadiens could acquire some draft capital, although nothing higher third- or fourth-round picks, most likely. Another possibility is an up-and-coming right winger. Josh Anderson is 30, Joel Armia is 31, Brendan Gallagher is 32. That side of the ice could use an injection of youth. 

Speaking of Armia, he’s another soon-to-be UFA head-scratcher. The Finn is playing the final season of a contract worth $3.4 million annually. He was part of the 2020-21 squad that made it to the Cup Final. But things have never been rosy. Consider that at the start of 2023-24, the club placed him on waivers. He ended up spending time with the Laval Rocket in the American Hockey League. Honestly, he probably walks out of the building in July. 

Matheson and Evans as Alluring Bait

That’s not to say that the Canadiens don’t have players who could really be viewed as nice catches for rival franchises. 

Defenceman Mike Matheson (30 years old) comes to mind. Granted, there are two issues with this argument. First, he will not be a UFA next summer. He’s playing the next-to-last season of a contract that pays an AAV of $4.875 million. That’s a bit tougher to trade. He’s also fared relatively well this season all things considered. Given that, perhaps the Canadiens would prefer keeping him around to help out youngsters like Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle, and Justin Barron. 

Related: Subban-Weber Trade Revisited

Then again, he’s the roster’s fifth left-handed defenceman. Montreal has only two regulars who shoot from the other side (Savard and Barron). A bit like with the Savard argument, a Cup contender could use Matheson’s services. In return, the Habs could acquire a right-handed shot and maybe a low-round draft pick. 

Then there is forward Jake Evans. The Torontonian is only 28 and has been in the Canadiens organization for his entire professional career since being drafted in 2017. Whatever hopes permeated about his potential after a decent 2021-22 (13 goals and 16 assists in 72 games) never paid dividends. It might be time to call it quits with him. On the plus side, like when we discussed Dvorak, he’s still relatively young and could be a solid third or fourth-liner centre elsewhere, especially if a playoff hopeful gets bitten by the injury bug. Better still, he only costs $1.7 million and will be a UFA in summer of 2025. Frankly, with the Canadiens’ top six forwards mostly settled on, they might as well see what they can accomplish by shopping Evans around to rebuild a portion of the bottom six. 

There are other contracts on the roster Hughes and company cannot do much about. Short of the Christmas spirit infusing an admirably generous rival GM, nobody is picking up Brendan Gallagher’s $6.5 AAV (his no-movement clause and modified no-trade clause ends after 2026-27) or Anderson’s $5.5 AAV (his modified no-trade clause ends after 2026-27). Never say never, but it wouldn’t do to hold one’s breath if they’re hoping to see either of those two dealt elsewhere. 

A lot of people are preaching patience at the Bell Centre. That’s perfectly fine. However, it wouldn’t hurt to expedite the rebuild process by at least attempting to offload some players who have been with Montreal for a while and are unlikely to be critical components to the franchise’s solutions. If it doesn’t work and they play out their deals this season or next, so be it. Remember: one misses 100% of the chances one doesn’t take.