While we’re less than 10 games into the 2024-25 season, the Montreal Canadiens are already looking to make a trade.
As per a Thursday night report from hockey insider Frank Seravalli, the Habs, who are 2-4-1 to start the year, are interested in bolstering their blue line by adding a defenceman.
“The Montreal Canadiens are checking prices around the league for a defenceman, preferably a right-shooting top-four defenceman,” Seravalli said during a Sports on Prime broadcast.
#GoHabsGo are checking prices to add a top-four, right-shooting defenseman. With the future well arranged, it’s expensive for a stopgap solution, but Canadiens also recognize this current situation isn’t ideal.
Details tonight on @SportsOnPrimeCA:pic.twitter.com/8DI9jFJO4q
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 25, 2024
With that in mind, given how early we are into the season, opposing teams are not handing out any bargains.
“[The Habs are] finding out that prices are, not only, pretty high, but also that teams aren’t really interested in making moves at this time of the year, so nothing imminent,” Seravalli added.
It also seems unlikely that we see Montreal compromise its bright future for someone who can help them in the short term.
“They feel like they have the future of their blue line ready to go, with [Lane] Hutson, Logan Mailloux, and David Reinbacher when he’s healthy,” he said.
Seravalli is not the only one to report that Montreal is exploring the trade market.
On a recent episode of Insider Trading on TSN, Pierre LeBrun also noted that Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has been actively shopping around with the team coming under fire for their poor start.
“They’re already making calls around the league. I do think that the slow start is part of that,” LeBrun said. “Hughes has been among the more active guys, in terms of staying [in] touch with other teams. In hearing from other teams around the league, Hughes is poking around, trying to see what’s out there on the market.”
Over the offseason, the Habs’ brass was intent on being “in the mix” but with playoffs becoming less likely with each injury and defeat, the goal may have been shifted to just increasing the number of meaningful games
“The reality is, internally, my understanding is I don’t think they felt the playoffs were realistic. But, certainly, I think there’s pressure internally and externally to take a meaningful step this year and play some meaningful hockey later into the year,” the insider added.
While early-season trades aren’t common, it’s worth noting that the NHL saw 11 separate deals from October to December 2023, which shows that if the price is right, anything can happen.