Trade Talk: Do The Montreal Canadiens Make THIS Move…NOW?

Trade Talk: Do The Montreal Canadiens Make THIS Move…NOW?

The Montreal Canadians made the playoffs last year by the skin of their teeth, defying all the odds at every turn and did so post fornations. Ken Hughes put it at the feet of his captain. You don’t want me to trade your friends and teammates? Well, then do something about it. And something they did in a massive, massive way. And here’s the crazy part. They did it without a second line. I mean, they had bodies on a second line, but my goodness gracious, compared to all the other teams that made the playoffs, the Canes didn’t have a second line. So, let’s spend a few minutes talking about line number two and who’s on it. Because let me inject my point of view right off the top here. Obviously, Deidov right now starts my season on line number two. Zachary Buluk is the X factor to me, but the bigger X factor is who’s going to play down the middle. And I have two propositions for you and a question. How patient are they going to be with Kirby Doc? Because he’s proposition player number one. Proposition player number two for me is are they going to make a trade with Anaheim for Mason McTavish who appears according to several NHL insiders? Maybe minds have been made up in Southern California as it relates to Mason McTavish. So let me start with Marco. Your point of view in how patient Hughes and St. and Lou and Gordon are going to be to allow the Canadians to establish a second line. Let’s start with Kirby Dock. Yeah, I think they’re going to be patient with Kirby Do. Um, you know, Jeff Gorton told us in in our interview with him that Kirby, you know, they’re comfortable with the centers that they have right now. They’re obviously still on the lookout if one becomes available, but they’re not going to sell the farm for a second line center that may not fit or that may require an overpay uh that may not be the right guy. You know, you you brought up Mason McTavish. I think there’s a that’s a lot of smoke when it comes to Mason McTavish. It’s a lot of smoke. You know, at first it was uh you know, Pat Verbique’s not signing any of his RFAS. Then he signs Helison. He signs Dost Stal. I don’t think McTavish is far. I think a lot of people will look at the McTavish situation and just assume that things aren’t going well because of the way that things went down with with Trevor Zagris. Yeah. But in terms of what my my uh my colleagues are listen are are are hearing in Orange County, it doesn’t seem like there’s this disappointment that some of the bigger insiders are are pointing out there. I think this is just offseason hockey talk. Do I think that Mason McDavish could eventually be traded from Anaheim? Yeah, it’s a possibility. I would think so. But I wouldn’t view the signing of Mikuel Granland who is in his like mid30s. Yeah, he’s and the drafting and the drafting of Roger McQueen who’s easily like two years away as being the necessity to try and move out a guy like Mr. McTavish. Like this team wants to make the playoffs next year. You don’t hire Joel Quenville to not make the playoffs. You don’t go through all that to not make the playoffs. You don’t take on Chris Krider for free because you’re trying to not make the playoffs. like this is a team that’s actively trying to make the playoffs and unless they get their biggest weakness which is a top pair of right shot defenseman quelled by by way of trade I don’t see a reason why they would move that and people that are considering offer sheets my guys try it has all the cap space in the world I don’t necessarily think they’re going to blink at you know matching a $10 million offer sheet to be completely honest with you um it just means that they’re gonna have to be smarter in other contracts which they were I mean do stall at 6.5 million for 5 years I think is is a smart move. I think it’s a money move. I think that he is going to quickly become one of the better goalenders in the NHL. So yeah, to me it’s it’s Verbique has always been this way with his RFAS. So I I see the smoke that you know I see the talk. I see that you know I saw that Jeff Marik said that he’s never been more available but that doesn’t necessarily mean he is available. That just means that there’s reason to doubt that he could be available. But that that’s the thing. Teams if teams are considering offer sheets, it’s because Anaheim doesn’t want to know anything about a trade, right? So that’s that’s the idea. But Smoke had cleared because they, you know, when they dealt Trevor Ziggress, you know, and he goes to where do you go? Philadelphia. When he goes to the Flyers, they’re like, “Okay, well, they made up their mind and that locked in Mason McTavish even further.” And then time moved on and here we are in July and Jeff Merrick is is having the opinions that he’s having and sharing those opinions. You’re like, well, here’s the smoke again. It’s billowing once more around Mason McTavish and and on and Anaheim. I’m not saying the Canadians are closely connected, but hear me out for a second. Like, what if Suzuki’s having another great year? Caulfield, Deidov, Slowski got off to a better start. Montabo is doing his job. Lane Hudson followed up on his rookie season. Kaden Goui’s playing injury-free and looking good. I just don’t see a world where the Canadians can be that patient waiting for Kirby Dock to learn how to play 2C at a high level. That’s what makes this a fascinating talking point in my mind is gauging how patient they’re going to be if the rest of the team around Kirby do is doing really well. Gaspage come uh Quebec. They don’t want to waste that. They can’t waste that. Yeah, but at the same time like again the opportunity cost is going to be through the roof, right? because he’s got no trade protection. If he is made available, the whole league is going to get involved. Agreed. And so the Canadian Montreal, they don’t have to go, you know, they got new hook, they got they could try Deitov, they could try Bulldook there, they could they got options. Yeah. But I think that there’s more value in the Canadians trying to jumpstart Kirby Dock than there is trying to go out and deplete themselves necessarily for a Mason McTouch. And I say that because your first round pick, your B prospect, and so you know, like a third pair of defenseman or a bottom six for is not what’s going to move the needle in this case. And I know a lot of people are going to be like, well, you know, you thought that no adoption was going to cost more than they did. That was situational. He forced himself out of the New York Islanders. Yeah. True. Right. Mason. No. Well, he can’t. He He has no arbitration. Correct. He has no arbitration. He has no trade protection. You can’t get that before age of the before your seven years in the league anyway. So or or age of 27. So it’s irrelevant. He has zero control over where he goes. And so all the cards are stacked in Verbique’s hands. It is irrelevant what everybody wants in this situation outside of Pat Verbique. And Pat Verbique is not going to trade a guy like him. Like look how long he held on to Ziggris. I know. I know. You think he’s just going to dump McTavish? No. And that’s the thing. That’s the unless we learn from the ziggurus things like go we held on to him for nothing. We didn’t get what we wanted. So let’s not do that. If you if you trade McTavish, you get substantially weaker in your life. Right. Right away. Right away. Right away. Which I don’t they don’t want to take a step back. They don’t. Mavish is better than Z, right? Like 1 v one. I would prefer Mavish over Zris all day. Yes. All day. Every day. All day. Every day. All day. Every day. And I think the reason is very simple is that he’s still on this upward slope. Like he had a crazy end of the season. It was almost a point per game. You know, I don’t think Verbique is in the rush that a lot of other teams are. You know, like it’s the same other teams can start turning around and being like, you know, is the situation souring in Montreal with with Lane Hudson and the Montreal Canadians? They were eligible to sign him to an extension as soon as July 1 and they haven’t done it. You know, what’s going on, right? you know, and then you’re going to you could easily make that conversation, but it’s a non-issue. Why? Because you know what’s going on and the the reality is the Canadians aren’t necessarily in a rush. They want to play it out, have conversations, see what’s happening, and see where things are at. And if they feel like, you know, how much more can Lane Hudson really earn if he has a good season next season? they’re willing to play the the cards and see like maybe maybe he replicates the season, maybe he has a sophomore slump that maybe impacts his season and they can sign him to a better contract mid-season because of that. Like there’s all kinds of negotiation that goes into it. The same applies here. So I don’t necessarily think that the the Mason McTavish stuff like I understand, but it’s it’s the name. It’s it’s it’s smoke to fire. I think that could he eventually be traded from Anaheim? Yes. Do I think he’s going to be traded or offer sheet like successfully offer sheetated this summer? I do not. And so that requires the Canadians to rethink the way that they’re going to be working their second line because in my opinion, you know, I don’t know that people are would be uh as open to to doing the trades that would necessarily be needed to be made to secure Mason McTavish out of out of Anaheim. Like I just it would probably cost you ghoulie. like it would probably cost you ghoulie and then Yeah. And then I agree with that. And so like you take a massive step back and then this is going to rile up all kinds of Canadians fans, but if that happens and the Canadians have no choice but to extend Mike Mat. Well, now I’m more inclined to be out then if that’s if that scenario if that plays itself out. No disrespect to Mat who I really like, but yeah. And I just don’t see people being behind that. I just it right player wrong time in terms of what the Canadians have to offer. And I think that’s the point is that the Canadians are going to get to a point where they’re going to have NHL ready assets to be able to trade within the next year. Right now they’re not proven. They’re not proven enough that you can make that kind of a move. And you know, first of all, for all Canadians fans, the Canadians trade for Mason McTavish, the Crosby dream dies. Are you really willing to give up the dream? Uh, now I’m just trolling. I hadn’t really thought about I hadn’t thought about that. But there is a very real angle that the I was thinking about it seriously and the answer is no. No, I’m not that. This is this is where I stand on this. Jeff Gorton specifically told us that he expects the trade market to shake loose again around American Thanksgiving in a serious way when teams are out of it and they’re going to be trying to sell off faster to get into a more realistic run at Gavin McKenna uh you know in the top of the 2026 draft. There’s a sense of that the the parody that force teams to not make trades is going to create a situation where they’re going to be like teetering on the edge, right? A lot of teams are teetering on the edge of a crossroad and they’re trying to buy themselves a little bit more time. But if they stumble out of the season like Nashville did last year, well, they’re going to sell off a couple of pieces like Nashville did, right, with Ker and putting Dante Fabro on waiverss and stuff like that. I feel like the same I feel I’ve been told that the the the expectation is that on steroids in November specifically because there was such a level of inactivity and a push for player for player. But if you’re going to, you know, call the season, right, if you’re like one of the teams that just not in it come end of November, well then you’re going to put roster players available that weren’t necessarily available for futures on the on the dot. And I think that’s when, you know, I I took that as, oh, okay, you know, you’re not expecting to make the big splash this summer. There may be a trade for sure, uh, and they have to get under the cap, but I don’t necessarily see the Canadians being the kind of team that’s going to offer sheet of Mason McTavish. There’s a lot that can go wrong. Uh, and giving an unprotected 2026 first can long haunt a team if they run into injuries and give them a lottery pick. Well, what if I dropped you right now into Martine St. Louise office, right? And let’s pretend for a second in MSL’s office, um, he has the big whiteboard up there and he’s got his first line, he’s got Cfield, he’s got Suzuki, he’s got Deidov there, he’s got line number two, uh, sorry, he’s got Slowski on one, he’s got Deitov on two, uh, he’s got his third line filled out, he’s got his fourth line maybe filled out, his D pairings, and his goalie tandem, right? What does his second line look like today on that on that drawn up depth chart? who is occupying the two slots that you and I and the the marketplace probably have different views on today. Yeah. You see, you got to go with complimentary players and the way that I see it is I think Patrick L will slide down to the third line. Really? Wow. Simply simply because that second line is going to get caved on faceoff circle. Correct. Caved at five on five even strength. Do you want to put Deidov in that kind of a situation? Personally speaking, no. Because then you’re basically putting him at a disadvantage at every start matter defensive or offensive zone starts. And Lord have mercy if there’s an icing call. Right. So you want to put Deidovv and Doc in a situation where they could potentially be thriving. There is a reason why the Montreal Canadians had a um an analytical analysis of their forward core and realized that they really needed a player that was strong on puck retrieval, strong on u straight line shots, strong on uh release, strong on the boards, right? So that’s why they identified a guy like Zack Book. Bzuk is exactly the kind of guy that fits all of those things who’s currently working on his left left hand faceoffs. There’s a reason for that. Kirby Doc is a right shot. Kirby Doc takes the strong side, his right side, and then the lefty would take the left side. And that’s why that combination works really well. The other way they can go about this, and this would be the the how do I say this? the not the boring way, but the predictable way is that Alex New Hook would be the winger next to Kirby Doc and Ivan Deidovv and they would go back to doing that combo. And then you’d have a third line of Patrick L, Jake Evans or uh you know, you name it, whoever you want. Exactly. And u and a guy like uh Zack Balzuk. And so that could be your offensively inclined third line. And then your fourth line would be Gallagher Anderson and if if if that’s the case, Valeno or Oliver Kapan. And I’ll tell you right now, brother, uh, as I’ve drawn it up myself, that’s how I have it today. I’ve got New Hook and Doc and Deidov as line number two. And again, I’m not saying that’s that’s because that’s what I think is in the best interest of the Canadians. I think that will get them off to a better start. I just don’t think for I mean, if you watch the games, you don’t need me to spell it out. I don’t Patrick L right now based off what we saw last year. I don’t think he’s got it to keep up as a as a number two winger situationally on the power play first wave all day every day for sure. I’d even ar I even argue that. But I also want I I I am a fan of allowing guys to work their way up. I’m not saying Buluk doesn’t deserve to be given an opportunity to win the second line role. He’ll be that’s what training camp is for. But part of me wants to keep him a little bit hungry. I subscribe to the theory from the experts that have reported back on Bulldook that he’s only scratching the surface. That’s fine. Let him keep scratching. Let him keep going there and let’s see if if a more air quote professional line of new hook and dock could be somewhat of a way to make October less challenging. And let’s see what happens after they can survive the first month of the season. Yeah, I I kind of agree in in terms of, you know, being able to put your players in the best possible situation and and kind of let them thrive early on. Um, I personally think Bulzuk is the best fit for that second line. Okay. But I can understand you not wanting a sophomore, a rookie, and a Kirby Dock on your second line. Uh, you you’re going to want a little bit of of of asurances. So that’s why I could see a guy like New Hook go there and then have Bud Zuk and Lane kind of, you know, on the on the third line with, you know, insert center here. And I feel like that could work um until they run into injuries, in which case they’re going to have to redo everything. Maybe I’m a little concerned about the back to backs and the condensed schedule as it relates to injuries. Come on, let’s come on. Let’s be real. But that also benefits younger rosters and the Canadians have the youngest roster in the NHL. Good counterpoint. Yeah. Yeah. young bodies can handle uh backto-backs a little easier. You could just ask all the uh young AHLers out there that perform much better on the second backto-backs than their veteran counterparts. Um so when you look at, you know, the way that they would build it out, my only thing, and I think this is the key here when we’re talking about that second line is you can really play, you could really play around with that roster. The one thing I will say with Patrick Lion is that we didn’t see the best of Patrick Lion last season. Right. Right. This is a guy that did not hit the ice last summer at all because he was in the program and still had an injury that he was dealing with. Comes back uh you know gets his knee almost blown out. Uh rushes back to the Canadians lineup uh in December and you know visibly slower. A full season, a full off season of training for him. I’d be very interested to see because obviously last season he was just like getting back into it and he played really well the first couple of uh the first handful of games but a full season of training a contract year I have a funny feeling that Patrick Lining at least to start may surprise people at least to start. What I Yeah. What I would however say is I would remove him from the top power play wave simply for the for the for the reasoning of such Patrick L would be the weapon on the top power on the on the second power play. He would be the guy. You’d have Noah Dobson at the point. You’d have Zack Balzuk in the in the the bumper, right? Whoever you want to put in front of the net, probably an Alex New Hook or or or a Kirby Dock. Kirby dock. And then and then you fill out I between the other two, between one or the other, you fill out the right circle and that would be your second power play wave. And that second power play wave right off the bat would be more dangerous than any second power play wave the Canadians have put out since 2021. Well, I agree. To me, it’s four quarters for a dollar. You and I two weeks ago were talking about legit realistically having two PP1s, right? I mean, one will be PP1, one would be PP2, but the talent talent-wise, you can have two legitimate top power play units spread across your two ways. I just I just felt like the Canadians were more dangerous when they played that that that hybrid diamond formation in games in game four and five of the playoffs against Washington because you have Cfield and Demidov with shooting ability. Hudson is working on a shot as we speak because that was probably his biggest weakness. Yeah. that can distribute the puck. Nick Suzuki can basically rove wherever he wants on a power play. And then you have that net fun presence in Slowski who’s gotten much better at deflecting pucks and taking up space and clearing out the garbage. I think that unit in of itself would get all the focus from the opposition, leaving the second wave to deal with the secondary defensive units. And I think that’s where they could take advantage. Well, you know, like you know, you talk about Lane Hudson working on a shot. It reminds me like watch this guy come back like Crosby. Oh, I can’t win the Rocket. Oh, I don’t win enough faceoffs. One full off seasonason corrects both of those things. Watch Lane Hudson come back in the fall of 2025 shooting the puck like he’s Al freaking McKinnis or something. You know what I mean? Well, pro probably not definitely I think he’s he could definitely, you know, he he’s definitely the way that I see it, you know, it’s all about technique, putting yourself up open for a point shot, being a little less hesitant when you receive it for like a catch and release kind of situation. This is all things that comes with practice and experience. So I’m not worried. But as it pertains to the second line, again going back to it, I think it’s also about, you know, creating a situation where everybody on that line has the ability to grow. I think it’s the reason why the Canadians are still looking for a top six piece because ideally they would want someone established on that line that has a, you know, consistency of performing in a top six role. uh in a situation where they can’t. Uh at the end of the day, and this is kind of what I say to everybody, Ivan Deidov made Alex New Hook look very good in the games that they played together, much better than he did prior to the be prior to his arrival with the team. I feel like he can do that for Kirby Doc. And I feel like if you can get Kirby Doc with confidence, I’ve seen Kirby Doc play with confidence live, he can be a dominant player. So, it’s about consistency, it’s about health. But if Kirby Doc could even reach a 50point, you know, season with the Montreal Canadians, it does two things. It gives the Canadians a legitimate option for a number two center, but it also gives the Canadians a legitimate option for a trade piece for a legitimate number two center. And I think that’s what the Canadians are kind of banking on is that it provides organizational value off the ice as well. And that’s what they’re looking to do. So, best to not it’s not about putting all your your top scorers on one line, but putting all your players in a position to succeed. So, really kind of going to get that. I don’t think the Canadians are going to go 2C this summer. I I I personally don’t see it just given the overall amount of of of um uh of competition for for centers. Uh you know, the Nazen Cadri rumors, yeah, not not happening according to what we’ve been told. uh Canadians not are not interested in a player of that age uh at this time. The Leafs may be, but the Canadians are not. And so the Canadians are clearly looking for a specific fit in that role or a stop gap for Michael H. But the idea to me is invest your time in Kirby Doc who is also going into a contract year uh and and seek to benefit from that either by keeping him longterm and developing into a 2C or trading him. Yeah. Let’s see what the fire is, man. And you’ve been called out. Kirby Doc, you know, 10 goals in what, 57 games, 22 points last season. I mean, all eyes on Kirby Doc. All eyes on Marco Demo. You can follow him at MN Demo with RG Media.

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