Flames trading Monahan to Canadiens to free up space for Kadri: report

Kadri in, Monahan out.

The Calgary Flames are shipping Sean Monahan out of town, in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, according to reports.

TSN’s Chris Johnston reported the deal, with the return yet to be announced.

Hearing that Sean Monahan is being dealt to the #habs to help clear space for Nazem Kadri's signing in Calgary.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 18, 2022

The Flames reportedly signed centre Nazem Kadri earlier today, but need to move on from Monahan in order to make the money work.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported the first rumblings of the Monahan trade.

**Breaking News** 🚨 📰
I’m told the ⁦@NHLFlames⁩ are working on a potential deal to move C Sean Monahan, and… The ⁦@NHLFlames⁩ are signing UFA C Nazem Kadri. ⁦@espn⁩ ⁦@NHLNetwork⁩ @NHL #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/yvUZ36YJXX

— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) August 18, 2022

Sporstnet’s Eric Engels believes a first round pick “might be” attached from Calgary to Montreal, though other details are slow to leak.

Details on Monahan to Habs deal still being sorted, hence delay on news of return. Some sources indicating this deal could be linked to another one happening. No guarantee of that, but that’s what I’m hearing. Also believe a first-rd pick might be coming to MTL from CGY.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) August 18, 2022

Monahan had eight goals, 15 assists and a plus-minus of -15 in 65 games in 2021-22, but had season-ending hip surgery back in April that caused him to miss the entire playoffs.

Monahan has one year left on his contract at a price of $6.3 million, as well as a modified no-trade clause as per CapFriendly.com.

Monahan originally joined the Flames back in 2013, where they drafted him at sixth overall in the NHL draft out of the OHL’s Ottawa 67s. In total, Monahan had 212 goals and 250 assists for a total of 462 points in 656 games for the Flames in his career.

He’s the third major departure from the Flames’ forward corps this summer, with Johnny Gaudreau signing in Columbus and Matthew Tkachuk being dealt to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Mackenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau.

More to come…