Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Pierre McGuire has just made an interesting revelation about a trade offer the Ottawa Senators placed on Kent Hughes’ desk.
The deal was ultimately turned down, obviously, but it remains an interesting story.
Artturi Lehkonen could have ended up in Ottawa instead of Colorado, a scenario that would have changed plenty for everyone involved.
It is an exclusive detail about a trade that nearly took a completely different turn.
Artturi Lehkonen was viewed as a strong, well-rounded player for the Montreal Canadiens, but he had yet to produce big offensive numbers.
Kent Hughes eventually traded him to the Colorado Avalanche at the March 2022 trade deadline.
But the Senators were also seriously involved.
Pierre McGuire, who worked for Ottawa that season, confirmed it.
Ottawa liked Lehkonen a lot and had been monitoring him closely. The Senators were interested enough to submit a concrete trade offer to the Canadiens.
But the deal never came together.
In the end, the Senators’ offer was weaker than the one presented by Colorado.
The Canadiens chose the Avalanche’s package.
Lehkonen trade delivers lasting value for both the Canadiens and Avalanche
It still turned out to be a beneficial trade for Lehkonen and the Montreal Canadiens.
In Ottawa, Lehkonen would never have lifted the Stanley Cup as he did with Colorado, and he likely would not have received the same opportunity to break out offensively.
For Montreal, the trade tree eventually helped the Canadiens acquire Alexandre Carrier, an extremely useful defenseman for Martin St-Louis’ group.
Without that trade, the Canadiens’ blue line would look much different today.
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Kent Hughes reportedly turned down a Senators trade offer that could have changed everything for the Canadiens
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