10:39 a.m.: The Canadiens have confirmed the deal as reported.
9:44 a.m.: The Jets are nearing a deal to acquire center Sean Monahan from the Canadiens, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports Friday. Montreal will receive a first-round pick plus a conditional later-round pick in return, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press confirms the first-round pick is Winnipeg’s 2024 selection. Dreger adds the conditional pick is a third-round choice in 2027, which will be transferred to Montreal if the Jets win the Stanley Cup this season.
TSN’s Darren Dreger said earlier Friday that interest in Monahan had spiked after the Flames opened trade season by dealing first-line center Elias Lindholm to the Canucks on Wednesday for an expansive return. The Jets and an undisclosed team were still in talks with the Canadiens as of Friday morning, according to Dreger’s report.
Monahan, 29, is on a one-year contract carrying a $1.985MM cap hit with a $2MM AAV. The difference comes from a $15K performance bonus awarded if he reached 26 games played in 2023-24 that the Canadiens have already paid out, per CapFriendly.
The Jets will not have to concede a roster player in this deal for financial purposes. They have $3.8MM in accumulated cap space at the time of the deal and can absorb Monahan’s full contract without retention. The Athletic’s Arpon Basu confirmed the Canadiens are not retaining salary in the trade.
While Monahan may not have the two-way acumen and minute-munching reputation of Lindholm, he’s outpaced his former Flames teammate on the scoresheet this season. The 2013 sixth-overall pick has managed to avoid injury this season and, as such, is having his best offensive campaign since his career-best 34-goal, 82-point season in 2018-19.
At the time of the deal, Monahan is tied for second on the Habs in goals with captain Nick Suzuki (13), third in assists (22), and ranks third on the team with 35 points. His 399 faceoff wins are the most of any Canadien. After missing the last 57 games of last season with groin and foot injuries, he looks no worse for wear and is shouldering top-six minutes in the process, averaging 18:27 per game.
That production comes despite Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis using Monahan in a shutdown role. 61% of his zone starts at even strength have come in the defensive zone, 16% higher than his career average. As such, he’s struggled to replicate his strong possession numbers from last season’s limited stint in the Habs lineup, but he has posted a positive relative possession share in limited minutes on the penalty kill and contributed two shorthanded goals.
The Jets don’t need Monahan to shoulder such heavy defensive zone usage – captain Adam Lowry has that handled down the middle. He can, however, fill the second-line center role behind Mark Scheifele and create a domino effect in the Jets’ middle six. With Monahan in the fold, capable secondary scoring options Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter can now anchor a third line with Lowry, and 22-year-old Cole Perfetti can maintain a second-line role with a little less responsibility on the wing. Monahan isn’t a long-term acquisition – at least not yet – and making the deal doesn’t impact Perfetti’s long-term standing as a potential piece down the middle in Winnipeg.
Notably, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has now recouped two first-round picks for two seasons and 74 games of Monahan’s play. Montreal acquired a conditional 2025 first-round pick from the Flames to take on the final season of Monahan’s previous contract, which carried a $6.375MM cap hit. After posting six goals and 17 points in last season’s 25-game showing, Hughes signed Monahan to his current one-year deal in June.
While the Jets won’t need to make any salary cap-related moves to get this trade done, they may need to waive two players after the All-Star break if Scheifele and David Gustafsson are ready to return from their respective injuries. Both players are currently on injured reserve, but after acquiring Monahan, the Jets have a full 23-player roster with no room to activate them. The only waiver-exempt player on the Jets’ roster is Perfetti, who won’t be sent down.
I hope the Jets were able to somehow pawn off injury prone Chaz Luzius off on the Canadiens.
Monahan will disappoint, And honestly! The Jets don’t need more forwards, They need blueline depth for a significant playoff run.
We’ve been trying to move you to another hockey board, but there just doesn’t seem to be a market for you.
David Lee Roth once said, They maybe talking bad about me, But they are talking are talking about me! You are welcome!!!
Wow! This could be your wrongest comment and… let’s just say you’ve been wrong before. Just on the faceoff dot alone, Monny fills a need. The Jets were one of the worst in league on FO%. And the PP needs help. When Scheifele went down, they shifted players into roles that didn’t match their skill sets. And as far as blueline depth, Declan Chisholm was the most predictable waiver loss this season. The Jets are the rare team that doesn’t need another depth defenseman.
Monahan will get hurt, And the Jets have zero blueline depth unless you include Heinola and Stanley. They have played a grand total of 7 games between them this season, So where am I wrong here?
The Monahan injury concerns may be overstated. Two major injuries, but otherwise healthy. (I’ll concede there is a higher chance, though.) As far as depth defense, the Jets’ six have been very healthy this season and 7-9 haven’t the opportunities. Sure, it’d be great to stash a playoff-hardened vet in the minors but the Jets’ reserve D all has reasonable minor league experience. It’s not like they’re hoping a couple of 19-year-olds will save the day if one their starters goes down.
Kent Hughes got a 1st-round pick to take him off of Calgary’s hands, then got another 1st-round pick to ship him to Winnpeg. Nice job! (Although I think we all knew he was obtained as trade bait, so it was never going to be any other way, but still a nice net haul.)
With the market established after these two deals, it’s gonna cost Drury a first, a third, Zac Jones and Adam Sykora to pry Henrique and Vatrano from Ducks.
Good trade
Now for the second piece ,,,a #5,6 d man hopefully someone tough,,
Savard is available
I dont think he is.
Hughes has made some iffy moves, but these two Monahan deals are not among them. A huge haul just to give a guy the room to (play on a team bad enough to let him) find his game.
Jets overpaid but this seems like a good fit. If they get one more solid D, they are a real threat to end Canada’s Cup drought.
I see Monahan sliding in very comfortably in the Jets lineup; they have D depth in Stanley, Heinola & Lundmark… next big trade chip now should be Henrique or Hanifin (guess to Rangers & Dallas)
Hughes’ handling of Monahan is the epitome of hockey is a business.
That said hoping Monahan, Vilardi and Perf, can gel as a line and his new team can convince him to sign a contract to stay a few years.
You mentioned 3 dmen who have played a grand total of 7 games this season. That’s not depth!
Just because they haven’t played due to not being needed doesn’t mean they are not depth. Statement makes no sense
Just look at the odds of the Jets blueline of going wire to wire without anyone of them missing significant time.
If one of them go down, they have depth lol if Morrissey goes down then no depth can cover that
I know Lindholm has a higher ceiling but i thought with Monahan having more goals, points amd being better in the dot they would get 2 pieces in the late first to mid 2nd round be that picks or prospects. Either way 2 firsts to pay Monahan 4-5M over 2 years is great work. Now to trade Savard, and 1 of the young LD at the draft for a forward and then were talking.
What a fantastic play by Hughes. Great return, get a 1st to take Monahan then gets a 1st in a trade for him?? Well done Kent Hughes
In the next 2 drafts Hughes has 4 1st’s, 3 2nd’s and 4 3rd’s. He has 6 NHL caliber young dmen in Ghule, Xhakej, Harris, Barron, Struble and Mallioux plus 3 prospects that look to be in Reinbacher, Hutson and Trudeau aswell as older Savard, Kovacevic and Matheson. Savard goes between now and the draft and Kovacevic is a perfect 6/7 dman on a contender aswell. Matheson is a good 4D 2nd PP type on a contender but he likely stays for another year at least due to his contact. What Montreal is lacking, aside from Caufield, on the team or in prospects, is an elite goal scorer or sniper. Hughes has to figure out how to draft or trade for 1 this offseason. The likly 6 D moving forward
are Matheson, Xhakej, Ghule, Hutson, Reinbacher and Mallioux. Then Barron, Struble, Harris or Trudeau plus a 1st should get a young goal scorer and hopefully they draft another in the top 5 or 6