The Canadiens were relatively quiet on trade deadline day with their only move coming late in the day when they moved Jake Allen to New Jersey. However, ESPN’s Kristen Shilton notes that Montreal did have interest in wingers Tanner Pearson and Joel Armia but not to the point where GM Kent Hughes was compelled to make a move. The Canadiens only had one available retention slot which was used on Allen which likely limited the market for Pearson, a pending unrestricted free agent. Meanwhile, Armia has rebounded relatively well after clearing waivers at the beginning of the season and has 11 goals in 48 games so far. However, he also has another season left at $3.4MM so teams likely would have been asking Montreal to retain salary or take back another contract to help facilitate a deal.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Blue Jackets forward Justin Danforth is dealing with a concussion and will be out longer than day-to-day, team reporter Jeff Svoboda relays (Twitter link). The 30-year-old missed Saturday’s game against Nashville with what was called an illness at the time. Danforth is in the middle of a career year, notching 10 goals and 11 assists through 63 games so far. Danforth inked a one-year, $1.1MM contract extension back in October meaning he won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency until the 2025 offseason.
- Kings GM Rob Blake recently told reporters including Andrew Knoll of the Los Angeles Daily News that there haven’t been any discussions about a contract extension with pending unrestricted free agents Viktor Arvidsson and Matt Roy. Arvidsson has been limited to just four games this season due to injuries so the hesitance there certainly makes sense. However, Roy has been a key cog on the back end for Los Angeles for several years now so it stands to reason that they’d like to keep him around even with him almost certainly eyeing a sizable raise from his current $3.15MM AAV. However, it appears those talks may have to wait until after the season.