As the oldest player on the Canadiens, veteran defenceman David Savard brings a lot of leadership to Montreal’s locker room.
However, the 34-year-old’s tenure with his boyhood club could soon be coming to an end.
With Savard being the subject of countless trade rumours last season, the blueliner made his desire to stay with the Habs clear. Luckily for him, he finished the year in the same uniform he started the campaign in.
That may not be the case this time around, though.
According to a Thursday report from TSN insider Pierre LeBrun, the arrival of new Canadiens trade acquisition Alexandre Carrier will likely put Savard’s future with the team in jeopardy.
“It’s not hard to draw a straight line between the arrival of Carrier and the eventual departure of David Savard,” LeBrun noted during TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment. “He’s a pending UFA. There have not been any talks at all between Habs management and Savard’s camp about a potential one-year extension, none of that. So it does feel like this would be his last year in Montreal.”
While he’s expected to leave in the offseason (after the final year of his contract expires), Savard could find himself with a new organization ahead of the upcoming NHL trade deadline.
“Inevitably, if the Habs are where they are in the standings, closer to March 7, probably a rental trade to another team for David Savard, although I don’t think Montreal is in any hurry to move him,” LeBrun added
Joining the Canadiens as a free agent after winning the 2021 Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the St-Hyacinthe, Quebec native has suited up for 213 games with the Habs.
He’s unlikely to go anywhere before the beginning of 2025, though, as the annual NHL Holiday Roster Freeze came into effect on Friday morning.