Montreal Canadiens trade scenarios: Martin Necas, goalie & defense projection, Friday Habs mailbag

today on lock on Canadians with Martin NES being linked to the hab several times should they and can they trade for him and More in our Friday mailbag your locked on Canadians your daily podcast on the Montreal Canadians part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hi there everyone and welcome to episode 1,081 of your daily Montreal Canadians podcast thank you for making us your first listen of the day as you know we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as on YouTube and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code lockon NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply my name is larab also known as the active stick and I’m joined as always by Scott matlo Habs eyes on the prize and Scott are you ready for a Frid Habs mailbag that is very meaty you’re on mute my turn this time I am always ready for the Friday mailbag it is my favorite part of the week because it’s where we can just kind of cut loose and do whatever we want uh in this case whatever the listeners want well yeah I guess they’re important I suppose yes so we’ve got a few questions about Martin NIS uh so they’re like let me read them both uh one of them we received on Twitter um and then one of them we received an email the first question is would you trade ma in a deal for NES um and then the email question has a little bit more of a um more of a like um suggestion multiple suggestions this comes from Greg hello Lauren Scott with all the talks of nature in the canes wanting a young established play as per your uh M main 29 episode that with Beck ra masar and Ka and what would you think of trading new hook um and Harris for Martin hes first it would make room uh on for one of these kids second line could be Rod duck and NES what do you think uh I think one they’re not going to trade Alex new hook at all K Hugh’s traded a lot for this player and they got part of a full season here and I don’t think Kent Hughes is uh going to just go flip them right away especially not you know 23y old Alex new hook who I think they see as a a a big piece of this team here and if they we’re talking young players they mean guys probably on their entry-level contract are about to start like their NHL career here so you’re talking a guy like Joshua W you’re talking potentially Owen Beck uh I’ll CET I don’t think gets it done in that deal there but they’re looking for guys who are just starting that career whose contract prices way way way way down there because as far as I could tell uh Carolina’s in a rough spot they have 26 million doll in cap right now but have one two three four five six seven eight forwards that are free agents this off season and then 1 2 3 4 five defensemen and the thing about all of these they are not going to be cheap uh pieces Seth Jarvis needs a contract Martin NIS needs a contract Jake gensel UFA would probably like to come back here uh Jordan martinook Tavo terrain uh Brett pesy Brady Shay they are going to need cheap low tier contracts at that point and I don’t think one new hook would be given up by the Canadians and he’s already making not a huge chunk of change but maybe more than I think they might want uh in there it’s only 2.9 Million so it is entirely possible for that but I I can’t see it being the case for Carolina at this point Jordan Harris I could absolutely see being a piece of that seeing as he’s you know not making it ton he makes $1.4 million this upcoming year I could see him being a piece in this trade absolutely uh along with pretty pretty much anyone in this defensive group if we’re being quite honest including mat because one of the questions specifically was would you let him go for that this is where it gets hard because I look at this Canadians defense without Michael mat and my blood runs cold I love Lane Hudson I love David reinbacher I love a lot of the young players in this defensive group I don’t see any of them as able to supplant Mike Mat on the Canadians blue line at this current point in time and let’s stay kind of on that train for the second half of this segment other than Trevor zus and Martin NIS who is a potential top six forward you would like to see on the Habs and then uh somebody says oh the same person says you need to answer your DM Scott I’m guessing there’s a question in there somewhere I stopped looking at my DMs on Twitter because it’s been mostly just uh peab Bots yeah okay so thoughts on other than zis and NES like who’s who’s a young forward we’d like to add doesn’t necessarily need to be someone who like is is rumored to be traded or linked to the Habs etc etc just don’t say Cod kinam because even when we joke about that people get really angry well no they also said top six forward too so um all right not not to be too mean but to be just a little bit mean uh and Jay I’m sorry sorry about this but I look I’m already kind of turning my head over towards Columbus maybe uh and in there um Kent Johnson is a name that floated around in some really bad trade proposals uh in the beginning of last year and besides that I also look at Patrick l who is going to be a lot more expensive at 8.7 million per year for the next two years he’s 26 years old he and spent part of his year in player assistance this year had some injuries and everything but everything about this screams this player needs a fresh start and if Columbus is really looking to start over Don woodell now as GM I don’t know if Pascal vinant is going to stay as their general manager but I in the back of my head I thinking Patrick l is one of those guys that you can absolutely Buy Low on with the caveat of that being well you got to get rid of like Josh Anderson on there we already have one guy whose one trick is scoring goals and not playing defense only Anderson’s a little bit more physical skates a little bit more uh NIS I think is going to be the one that everyone’s focused on I would be interested also in Anaheim talking to Ducks fans some people have kind of been like if Troy Terry goes our feelings aren’t hurt too badly do want Troy Terry I’m not opposed to it but he has signed his contract ends in 2030 making seven M A years so that’s he’ll be in his early 30s when that contract ends it’s hard to judge you know how good he is because anaheim’s kind of been a tire fire but I’m not opposed to the idea of it I think he’d be a perfectly fine top six ad to this team but I don’t think he hits that same excitement level that people are getting with Trevor zis and understandably so Trevor zis is just a different kind of person but Terry’s contract is locked in zis is going to need a new one after the end of the 2026 season and if he hits the ground running in Montreal that 5.75 he’s making now is going to go up exponentially and it makes me worry a little bit about whether or not they can afford him uh some people said McTavish I think that just the ask for that alone is going to have Pat verbi hanging up the phone in their faces I mean I would call about you know I would call about Mason McTavish I don’t think anyone’s going to be listening on the other end like you said they’ll hang up the phone but guess what everyone’s tradable for a price like the price will be steep so you never know and also sometimes I just I have a lot of confusion about what Anaheim does um I really I I just sometimes I’m like what what are you doing that doesn’t really make sense but it seems to whatever for whatever reason they seem to be really convinced with their vision and and here’s the thing is that they’ve built a really good Prospect pool in there so it’s hard to argue with them on that it’s just sometimes they do things that I’m like why why was why are you playing Ross Johnston why did you pay Alex color that long why X Y and Z and I’m just kind of working my way through the Western Conference here and I’m not seeing a lot of teams where I’m like I want pieces from that Vegas is very old and is very expensive uh right now they have one regular NHL forward under 25 and it is either it is or two sorry Brendan brone and Pavo D dorv and I definitely butchered that and my thought with that is I don’t think either of those fit into the top six immediately this year so I am looking I think Anaheim and potentially Columbus as the teams I might be looking to steal pieces from in that um and I absolutely agree in the meantime we have plenty more mailback questions and up next we’re going to talk a little bit about goal tending goalie projections etc etc and that is coming up in just one moment here on locked on Canadians but first this episode is brought to you by game time let’s talk about the NBA playoffs and how hard it is to get tickets sometimes to things and you know what getting tickets shouldn’t be this hard game time is here and they have such an easy app you know to use they have so many different features that make it easy and painless to get tickets you can 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segment um we forgot that Kaden Primo was a nepo baby and I think it’s also because we were looking at like draft eligible players or like last year’s draft players where it was like nepo babies but we already have the like one of the nepo babies in our system slash on our team now I guess um but goal tending of the future so we got a couple of questions about Jacob Fowler and in your estimation Scott what how long do we think it will take for us to actually see him at the NHL level um and what is your prediction as to from these three goalies which two will be remaining on the Montreal Canadians let’s say three years from now so I think for Jacob Fowler I think you could potentially see him in the NHL as soon as the end of this upcoming season depending on how deep Boston College goes I think he’s going to go the Kaden Primo route where he is won so much inside those couple of years that he just wants to get to that Next Level I don’t think he’s going to stick as an NHL goenda doish will be here you might have Quinton Miller youin vokin whoever else they might draft or sign or trade for whatever and then also Kaden Primo who is in the last year this year of his current contract monteo obviously extended I think I wouldn’t be surprised to he him play at least a game or two in the NHL at the end of next season and I think he will absolutely be pushing for a full-time roster spot going into that next year there and I think he has all the tools to absolutely do so what that looks like in two years is all dependent on does Samuel monmo continue his progression as solidified NHL starter or is this going to be you know flash in the P yeah this is what he is and I don’t know yakob doish is ceiling is right now I thought he bounced back had a very strong AHL rookie season but he’s raw in a lot of aspects of his game where I think Jacob f is a little bit more polished I think this is the last year of Kaden Primo in Montreal and I do think that they will look to potentially make that trade at the deadline because as we’ve learned in the playoffs this year sometimes teams just need a quality backup if that’s Kaden Primo yet or not because he alternated lights out and AHL backup with regularity this year couple of good games then a really stinky one then a decent game then a stinky one and then back and forth this is the hardest position I think for me to predict because colender are complete Voodoo uh I I look at Kaden Primo in the AHL one of the best most solid goalies it took him four years I believe now to find his footing as an NHL backup not a starting quality goal tender and this is one of the best goalies that played in the NCAA recently we’ve seen very good goalies not even get offered NHL contracts not be drafted and they go off and play in Europe and I keep flashing all the way back to Hayden hawy who was playing at Providence was a phenomenal NCA goenda traded him with uh picks to I believe was Edmonton or maybe it was Cal they traded him in something and he’s just bounced around the ECHL with maybe an AHL cup of coffee it’s a position that doesn’t does not lend itself to being easy to understand and uh I’m hoping Jacob Fowler comes as advertised at this next level as well so I didn’t interrupt but you mentioned you know um you think that this might be the last year that we see Kaden Primo in Montreal and he might get traded away at this deadline so in that scenario are you then seeing the Samuel mono remaining and then yakob doish making the sort of jump and then Jacob Fowler trying to be the guy in the AHL I could see it very easily as and here’s the thing is primo could come out this year and be certified starter right who knows uh I could see them also at the Dead headline being especially if this is hey we’re far enough out that we’re not going to make the playoff run we’re going to sell pieces off and just do the best we can for the rest of the year and just be like we’ll give you a sixth round pick to take this you know backup veteran off your roster that you’re not using so you can do other things if you want to or as part of a bigger trade whether that be David Savard yoel Aria Etc I could see them just getting a Quality quality uh just guy to back up Samuel mmbo from now and then and if he gives up four goals in a game and they lose it doesn’t matter he’s going to be a UFA at the end of the season it’s almost like when they got Andrew Hammond just to be the a guy as the backup there because I do have to keep reminding myself Jake Allen is no longer part of this organization he’s with the devils and we are cheering for that second round pick condition to hit uh I think that there’s enough potential goal tending situations that the Canadians could very easily just when if they decide to move Primo just get another guy from another team just to help Al be the nice guy and help alleviate some of that situation there and then fer can come in at the end of the year and if you scratch the veteran guy who the hell cares you’re not trying to win these games put Jacob fer in and see what he’s got and then next year in training camp you let all the young guys battle it out you know prove that you belong here prove that you can be the NHL backup if not the AHL is also just right there and that’s not the end of the world right um and then really quickly before our next segment um I’m going to summarize about 15 different questions here we’ve got a faction of people saying Trevor zus is overhyped why does he keep coming up with h as a habst trade Target and then we’ve got another bunch of listeners saying that he should be a Montreal Canadians trade Target what are your thoughts Scott my thoughts are he has all the skill in the world and would be a humongous asset to the Canadians potentially I also think that some people who think that he is all Flash and no um Sizzle behind that um could be a problem especially in the playoffs I think that I we don’t know because he hasn’t had a chance to be on a playoff team love Anaheim yeah and I know that Cole Coffield is good friends with him I think that adding him is doing what everyone wants the Canadians to do take a bet on high upside and Trevor zis is absolutely that but my question also is why does this has been coming up for like the past two years like it’s the past two seasons is Anaheim so ready to give him up I don’t think so I’ve actually asked some ducks fans about this and they’re blaming Frank carali for this because he’s the one who kind of got this whole steam train started for whatever reason and maybe he’s heard something maybe he’s making it up who knows it could just maybe the culture fit isn’t there and that despite you know wanting to keep this player there just things don’t mesh and sooner or later you have to figure out am I keeping the one or am I keeping the everything else that fits in this and sometimes if you have a truly Elite all World player that can take over the game on his own you make the decision to build around them and sometimes you go we’re going to probably take a net loss on this but how much can we recoup in a deal for this and I think Anaheim who could probably get a king’s Ransom if they say yes he is available because he will have they will have I’m sure most teams knocking on their door right including Carolina who might you know be like we’ll give you Marty NIS and whatever for zis and whatever and that’s the base of a trade that the Canadians without blowing up their Prospect pool couldn’t match right there you go and that would be like a guy for guy essentially they could throw in picks or Prospect or whatever but that would be guy for guy tra well not like a rando guy but you know what I mean um all right in our next segment we’re going to talk a little bit about projected um uh defense Corp and then this really fun exercise that one of our listeners had us do and that is coming up in just one moment here on locked on Canadians all right Scott let’s talk about it uh actually I want to do the decor one first and this one comes from our very good friend Cloe s who is basically responsible for all all of our our um content for the last week or so just for fun suspending reality for a moment and assuming the scouts are right and all of these players reach their full potential do you think the Montreal Canadians can win the 2026 2027 Stanley Cup so is this is three seasons away we’re doing 24 25 25 26 26 27 right so three seasons away right with the projected Decor below Adam angstrom Kaden ghouly Lane Hudson David reinbacher Arbor Jacky Logan Mayu as a group I think they cover all the bases capable of handling the power play penalty count the physicality needed in the playoffs what would the top six be in your shanga I this is hard player no I’ve I’ve got the six players there one I I do think that for this to work a Hudson Ry bocker pairing is instrumental I think in being what I think would be my top pairing there uh and then right behind that this is where it gets difficult because they have a lot of guys who can start moving the puck and a lot of guys who also might have some defensive deficiencies Kaden Gully notwithstanding uh and in there and people are going to yell and scream in the comments I think Jaden strubel depending on how this offseason goes could supplant Arbor Jacky in this lineup as a regular because of of his physical talents his defensive awareness his skating he doesn’t have that same uh highlevel pugnacity that uh Jacky does I think that strubel is plenty physical on his own but he’s a new AG defensive defenseman in the way that he plays I would very much have him in my lineup as well uh Logan Mayu I think is going to be it’s he’s the one of the few guys that I could see them making a case for a two defenseman power play with Hudson as a Rover and Mayu as the actual uh shooting option but also even as a power play one or power play two just uh sha Weber type of guy there if they all hit their ceiling and I think Adam angstrom comes in second third pairing guy Jacky second third pairing guy Mayu first pairing offensive upside maybe not the highest defensive upside but Ryan Bacher and Hudson definitely have first pairing upside gouie as a high two if everything goes well I think they could make that work but I think they would potentially need to Splash out for a veteran in there uh someone and I’m imagining you know upgraded Brett kulak like Prime Jeff Petri kind of thing there to really tie that all together because that’s still a very young group for the most part but I think that they could do a lot of damage the defense has never been so much my concern of the goal tending is holding up it’s the forward group that is a mystery in a couple of years here because we have guys like Doc and new hook Etc who are going to be coming up for contracts too and we don’t know what the what those seasons are going to look like yet um I absolutely agree okay so then we have like a fun question when I say I absolutely agree I mean um my brain cannot do the math of like what all these players are going to cost um so I’m going to think about that uh this comes from our friend Kyle R and the subject line said please don’t laugh too hard and this is how it started hi Laura and Scott my genius self heard you say superlatives and thought Oh yay we’re making up Habs expletives Jesus Christ was I wrong I can’t believe I SLA that up badly that badly can you guys think of any fun family-friendly exploitive that we can drop in front of the kids when the game doesn’t go the right way and we want to scream something the complete opposition of you so Scott familyfriendly um let’s say exclamations that have to do with the Hales I this actually was a struggle for me because anyone who’s watched a game around me or been in a live stream with me watching a game knows that that’s not the way that I go with anything at that point uh the I’m allowed near kids during a Habs game Scott wait what now I’m not allowed near children doing a Habs game because of my swearing oh I was that I almost said something I was gonna end this podcast prematurely and everything so um I like for in the back of my mind the first thing that came up was just what the Bor uh in tribute to meme Legend Renee Bor pocket Captain uh Gabrielle Bor it’s this is hard because like I’ve slapped this up which you know you know negative connotation but like still works um I this was way harder than I thought and I thought about this for most of the day I know right it’s because I just combine a bunch of player names with an exploitive and then it doesn’t really work I was like I could do coy and I’m like nope can’t say that word on this podcast and it’s definitely not familyfriendly you know I can’t just be like what the bleep Josh Anderson because he’s going to be signed for it’s like this is hard I know like Jesus price has always been a good one right because it just worked out so well yeah and it was like not it was not rude um I wanted to like something like I used to say you know for K vu’s sake or in the name of quu or you know that kind of stuff for the love of kivu what are you doing for the love of Maurice what are you doing yes for the the love of Maurice uh what are you doing you know just things like that like um and then I I I had this mean really mean one and I’m gonna say it but I’m gonna like you know I’m gonna feel bad about it forever but like I was just goingon to say you really Josh that up God and it’s mean I know it is mean it’s not wrong though because every time we watch Josh Anderson try to do anything that isn’t skate forward it’s like yeah it’s The Simpsons joke of just hold on he’s gonna do something stupid and then lo and behold he just joshes it up all over the place and the Puck’s going the other way and I’m over here losing my hair further on everything else so and then I mean the easiest one is Kirby Duck Right like he’s got a name that like just lends itself to like you say duck you like you and I went into very different directions and I don’t know what that says about me as a person and then I think the the age- old thing is like you know people will go like are you blind ref like I think that you know you refed it up I think that’s a great way to you know that’s a great way to express our feelings I was trying to make fun of one of the officials by name and I’m just like Chris Lee calling someone Chris Lee I feel like is the meanest thing I can do if I’m not referring to Sir Christopher Lee are the Christ of Le how about that well no they’ll never see it because they’re going to miss that in the first place like all the calls that he misses on the ice so we do want to hear what your uh Habs expletives would be fun exercise like I think I I want to I want to do a regroup when we’ve had time to think it up and like you know maybe we ask our buddy Ian too like he’s got some uh good ideas he’s very creative about this kind of stuff so you tell us and in the meantime we’re gonna end this mailbag now and let you guys get on with your weekend we will be back on Monday so make sure you are subscribed to this podcast wherever you get your podcast as well as on YouTube we’re free and available literally everywhere 5 days a week um and we’ve got so much draft content and we took a little break from it this week but we’ll get so much draft content back for you next week in the meantime you can find us on Twitter Lor Canadians you can email us at lockon Canadians gmail.com please do we love your emails you can find Scott all over social media scottm you can find me all over social social media social media at the Active stick thank you so much for listening have a great weekend and we we’ll see you Monday

In today’s episode, we answer a number of Montreal Canadiens related mailbag questions, including whether the Habs should target Martin Necas, what the projections should be for Jacob Fowler, what our contending defense core will look like in Montreal, and more.

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