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Montreal Canadiens Acquire Sean Monahan

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After news broke that the Calgary Flames will be signing Nazem Kadri, the obvious move to clear cap space was trading away Sean Monahan’s contract. That will be the case as Monahan is headed to the Montreal Canadiens.

Given Kadri’s reported $7MM cap hit, the swap represents just a $625K cap increase for the Flames, who were on the hook for the final season of Monahan’s seven-year, $44.625MM contract. Moving from Monahan to Kadri will cost them more than that though, as Calgary is sending a conditional 2025 first-round pick to the Canadiens in order for them to take the whole contract. Montreal will send future considerations (nothing) back.

The reason the trade took so long to work out is the set of conditions, which are some of the most complicated the league has ever seen.

  • If Calgary’s 2024 first is pick 20-32, Montreal has the option to take that pick (must decide before draft starts).
  • If Florida’s 2025 first transfers to Calgary (from the Matthew Tkachuk trade) then:
    • If Calgary and Florida’s 2025 firsts are both outside the top-10, Montreal will receive the earlier one OR
    • If Calgary’s 2025 first is inside the top-10 and Florida’s is not, Montreal will receive Florida’s
  • If Florida’s 2025 first does not transfer to Calgary then:
    • If Calgary’s 2025 first is not in the top-10, Montreal will receive it AND
      • If Florida’s 2025 first is not in the top-10, it has been transferred to another team, and is better than Calgary’s 2025 pick, Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 fourth-round pick
    • If Calgary’s 2025 first is in the top-10, Montreal will receive it UNLESS
      • If it is the first-overall selection, Calgary will retain the 2025 first, and Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 third-round pick, and the better of Calgary and Florida’s 2026 firsts.

For the Canadiens, who are trying to orchestrate a full rebuild under new general manager Kent Hughes, going after Monahan is a no-brainer. Adding a premium future asset for nothing more than a year of wasted cap space is exactly how you move things along, even though they will have to make some adjustments if Monahan is healthy enough to play after hip surgery earlier this year.

“Healthy enough to play” seems to be the operative phrase in Montreal right now, as their cap situation could vary wildly depending on the status of Carey Price. If the veteran goaltender is placed on long-term injured reserve again, the team would have some added flexibility. If he does play, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens fit Monahan in.

Regardless, this is likely not a competitive year for the Canadiens, even though they’ve added some young talent, meaning they can take on salary without any real risk. In fact, should Monahan prove healthy enough, he might even be a nice deadline chip for the team to re-sell. While he is cost-prohibitive at his full cap hit, a retained Monahan for the last part of the season could be an attractive target for contenders looking to add some depth.

Canadiens Make Changes To Video Coaching, Scouting

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The Montreal Canadiens aren’t done re-shaping their organization under the new management of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes. Today the Canadiens announced that longtime video coach Mario Leblanc is stepping down from his role, and the video coach of the AHL Laval Rocket, Daniel Harvey, has been promoted to Leblanc’s former role. The Canadiens did also say that Leblanc would “remain involved” in the organization, continuing to work within the scope of hockey operations. His specific responsibilities are unclear. Leblanc has worked in the role of video coach for a quarter of a century and is one of the longest-tenured faces in their organization.

In a move that came a bit more quietly, former Florida Panthers scout Billy Ryan was named Director of Player Evaluation in Montreal, as reported by Arpon Basu and Marc-Antoine Godin of The Athletic. (subscription link) Ryan has worked as an amateur scout for the Panthers since 2015-16. Per Basu and Godin’s reporting, Ryan ran the Panthers’ 2020 draft when they were between scouting directors, guiding them to the selections of center Anton Lundell 12th overall and current Canadiens prospect Emil Heineman in the second round.

Looking Back At The First Round Of The 2005 NHL Entry Draft

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On this date 17 years ago, the first round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. It was the league’s first major event since the lockout that cost them the entire 2004-05 season ended just over a week prior, and considering the draft’s top prize, there was added intrigue.

With the lack of regular-season standings to determine the draft order, the league implemented a snake draft system to make things more equitable for teams in later rounds that didn’t fare so well in the draft lottery. One team that did fare well that night, though, was the Pittsburgh Penguins, who cemented a 15-plus year run of success by drafting future captain Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick.

Five players selected that night went on to appear in at least 1,000 NHL games, including Crosby. One was 2022 Stanley Cup Champion Jack Johnson, taken third overall by the Carolina Hurricanes. Johnson never played a single game for Carolina, though, as he was traded the following offseason to the Los Angeles Kings along with defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky in exchange for defenseman Tim Gleason and center Eric Belanger.

Johnson wasn’t the only player from the first round to play meaningful games for the Kings, though. The team selected two-time Stanley Cup champion and future captain Anze Kopitar with the 11th overall selection. Another thousand-gamer was selected directly after him when the New York Rangers picked defenseman Marc Staal 12th overall, while Johnson’s teammate on the 2022 Avalanche, forward Andrew Cogliano, was selected 25th by the Edmonton Oilers.

One name from that night who could still join the 1,000-game club was St. Louis Blues selection and current Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. Taken 24th overall, he only needs 100 more appearances to hit the mark.

Future Stanley Cup-winning skaters weren’t the only future legends drafted that night, though. Two of the greatest goalies in recent memory were drafted that night, with the Montreal Canadiens selecting Carey Price with the fifth overall pick and the Toronto Maple Leafs selecting Tuukka Rask with the 21st overall pick, of course prior to trading him to the Boston Bruins the following season.

Just three players selected that night, all taken within four picks of each other, would never make an NHL appearance. Slovak forward Marek Zagrapan, drafted 13th overall by the Buffalo Sabres, played just three years in the organization with two different AHL affiliates, scoring 20 goals there just once. At 35 years old, Zagrapan is still active, playing the 2022-23 season in the French Ligue Magnus.

Directly after him, the Washington Capitals took Canadian defenseman Sasha Pokulok with the 14th overall pick. The first overage player taken in the draft, he’s arguably the biggest bust of the night. He never spent a full season in the AHL, bouncing up and down between there and the ECHL for four seasons after turning pro in 2006. He failed to make a notable impact in Europe, too, only lasting one season in the DEL (2010-11) before floating around various lower-level leagues in Eastern Europe and Quebec.

Lastly, there’s Canadian winger Alex Bourret, taken by the Atlanta Thrashers at 16th overall. A short but strong power winger, Bourret had a very successful junior career in the QMJHL that just didn’t translate. His North American career fizzled out quickly after a strong start in the AHL, but after being traded twice (first to the Rangers, then to the Coyotes), he had just 14 points in 48 AHL games during his final season there in 2008-09.

Montreal Canadiens Hire Stephane Robidas

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The Montreal Canadiens have added another coach without much experience, hiring Stephane Robidas as an assistant for Martin St. Louis’ staff. General manager Kent Hughes explained the move:

We are very lucky to have someone of Stephane’s caliber join our coaching staff. His recent experience as an NHL player, and his outstanding hockey background, will be excellent assets for the development of our players. Stephane perfectly matches the profile we were looking for in a candidate. In addition to being an exceptional individual, he is a very good communicator, and I believe that players will relate to him because of that.

Notably, though he has no experience as an NHL coach, he did serve as director of player development for several years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That experience with young players is going to come in handy with the rebuilding Canadiens, along with his familiarity with the organization. Robidas was a seventh-round pick of Montreal back in 1995 and made his NHL debut with the club before moving on to several other teams.

It’s something of a trend now for the Canadiens to hire a coach out of minor hockey, as Robidas spent last season behind the bench of the Magog Cantonniers, the same QMAAA team that he and his son Justin Robidas played for. Justin was a 2021 draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes and spent last season captaining the Val-d’Or Foreurs.

While his son is just trying to start on his hockey journey, Stephane can look back at an NHL career that lasted more than 900 games. The right-shot defenseman was even invited to an All-Star Game and participated in the World Championship for Canada on three different occasions.

Snapshots: Slafkovsky, Tarasenko, Oil Kings

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From the moment the Montreal Canadiens took Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the first overall pick at the draft earlier this month, there has been significant speculation on where Slafkovksy would be playing the 2022-23 season. Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov indicated in his post-draft media availability that Slafkovsky had “learned all he could” from playing in the Finnish Liiga, and when one looks at the first-year landing spots of previous number-one picks it doesn’t take long to see a trend. Typically, a number-one pick will make their team’s opening-night roster, and 2021 number-one pick Owen Power’s choice to begin 2021-22 with the University of Michigan was a rare break to that trend. So, with that history in mind, many have assumed that Slafkovsky would be playing for Montreal in October.

But it isn’t that simple. Slafkovsky’s so-so production in Liiga has left many wondering if a stint in the AHL or another lower league would be preferable for his development, and some have hoped that Slafkovsky could continue his string of strong performances for the Slovak national team at this summer’s upcoming World Junior Championships. It doesn’t look like that’ll be happening, though, and where Slafkovsky will be spending 2022-23 is becoming more and more clear. Today, Slafkovsky told Tomas Prokop of Dennik Sport that his “main goal” is to play in the NHL in the fall and that he would, as a result, not participate in the World Juniors. The Canadiens have room on the left wing next to their budding stars in Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, so it’s likely that Juraj will spend the rest of the summer preparing to earn a shot on their line to open the season.

Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:

  • St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko made headlines in the summer of 2021 when he reportedly requested a trade from the St. Louis Blues. At the time, Tarasenko’s health was still very much a contentious topic and it looked as though his NHL future was cloudy at best. After a 2021-22 resurgence that saw him author the most productive season of his career, Tarasenko looks to be in St. Louis to stay, despite recent rumblings. There were those who supposed that Tarasenko would be included in any of the Blues’ offers to the Calgary Flames for Matthew Tkachuk, but that wasn’t the case. According to Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest, the Blues never asked Tarasenko to waive his no-trade protection to be traded to the Flames. This report is likely an indication that the Blues have Tarasenko in their plans for next season, and his production could be increasingly important to their success thanks to the departure of David Perron.
  • The WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings have a new head coach. The team announced today that Luke Pierce was named their fifth head coach in modern history. Pierce, 38, has been an assistant for the Oil Kings for three regular seasons, stretching from 2018-19 to 2021-22. Pierce has prior WHL head coaching experience, as he was the head coach of the then-Kootenay Ice for two seasons from 2015-16 through 2016-17. His time at the helm of the rebuilding Ice didn’t go well, and he had just 26 wins in 144 games. Pierce will be in a better spot in Edmonton, though, as they just won the WHL title and had an extremely successful 50-14-4 record in the 2021-22 regular season. He takes over for Brad Lauer, who left to become an assistant coach on Rick Bowness’ Winnipeg Jets staff.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Sam Montembeault

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Today, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced that the team has agreed to terms on a two-year, one-way contract with goalie Sam Montembeault. The contract will take him to his first eligible year of unrestricted free agency in 2024. The Athletic’s Marc Antoine Godin reports the deal is worth $1MM per season.

Montembeault found his way to Montreal at the beginning of 2021-22 when the team claimed him off waivers from the Florida Panthers. With Carey Price’s nagging knee injury keeping him out for the vast majority of 2021-22, Montembeault played in 38 games for Montreal this year, more than doubling his previous total of 25 with Florida. Serving as the backup to Jake Allen and the starter for brief periods when Allen was injured, Montembeault had a season to forget with an 8-18-6 record, .891 save percentage, and 3.77 goals against average along with one shutout.

The 2015 third-round pick is still relatively young in goalie years at 25, though, and there may be a small bit of untapped potential in the Quebec native. He’s yet to show it at the NHL level, though, as his save percentage hasn’t hit .900 in any of the three seasons he’s appeared in.

Montembeault’s role this season will once again depend entirely on the health of Price, barring a trade in the Montreal crease. If Price is able to battle back from what’s become an increasingly serious knee ailment to start the 2022-23 season on time, Montembeault and his seven-figure price tag would almost certainly pass through waivers unclaimed.

Latest On Canadiens, Pierre-Luc Dubois

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The full extent of the Montreal Canadiens’ offseason plans began to take shape today, as the team traded defenseman Jeff Petry and center Ryan Poehling to the Pittsburgh Penguins. One major name that many have connected to the Canadiens is that of Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois. It doesn’t take any detective work to understand why that connection is being made: Pat Brisson, Dubois’ agent, has communicated that his client would like to play in Montreal, and Dubois has reportedly communicated to the Jets that his intention is to leave as a free agent in two years time. Many have speculated, then, that the Canadiens would attempt to acquire Dubois this summer, and it appears that that sort of speculation is grounded in reality.

According to Arpon Basu of The Athletic (subscription link), Dubois attended the NHL Draft in Montreal because he “believed a trade would be completed on the draft floor.” Furthermore, Basu adds that “it is believed” that Winnipeg is “holding up a trade” because they want Montreal to include a player in the compensation package for Dubois that Montreal has no interest in moving. As we saw with the trade of Alexander Romanov to get Kirby Dach on draft night, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is willing to trade players he isn’t actively looking to deal if he believes the player he’s getting in return is worth it. Dubois is extremely talented, but as a result the player the Jets could be seeking from Montreal could be someone too important for the Canadiens to move.

  • Hughes spoke to the media today following the Petry deal, and mentioned, as relayed by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, that the Canadiens would in all likelihood be looking for a right-side defenseman to fill the hole left by Petry’s absence. Star offensive defenseman John Klingberg’s name sticks out as the best right-shot defender on the market, but he’s likely out of the Canadiens’ price range. Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman and Michael Stone are other UFA options, but neither truly inspire confidence. Perhaps the most intriguing option for the Canadiens is a possible return for P.K. Subban, who last played for the team in 2015-16. Subban maintains an active philanthropic presence in Montreal and his ties to the city have survived the many years he’s spent playing for other teams. While he may not be a long-term option for the Canadiens, his signing would definitely attract attention.

Canadiens Sign Rem Pitlick

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After non-tendering him earlier in the week, the Canadiens have decided to bring back Rem Pitlick, announcing that they’ve re-signed the forward to a two-year contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports (Twitter link) that the deal carries an AAV of $1.1MM.

The 25-year-old bounced around a bit last season.  He spent the preseason with Nashville before being waived and claimed by Minnesota.  Pitlick was relatively productive with the Wild as he had 11 points in 20 games but found himself back on the wire back in January.  Montreal was dealing with several injuries and missing quite a few players due to a COVID outbreak so they scooped him up.

With the Canadiens, Pitlick had an opportunity to play a much bigger role and made the most of it, picking up nine goals and 17 assists in 46 games while averaging over 17 minutes per game.  However, GM Kent Hughes acknowledged during his press conference (Twitter link) that they didn’t want to risk an arbitration hearing with Pitlick which resulted in his non-tender on Monday.  Even with that, he gets a small raise on the $917K he made last season and a bit of job security with the two-year term.

Following today’s earlier swap that saw Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling go to Pittsburgh, the move freed up a roster spot up front and enough cap space to bring Pitlick back.  Now, following Pitlick’s addition, the team has a little over $1.2MM in cap space remaining, per CapFriendly.  That won’t be enough to sign the recently-acquired Kirby Dach so it appears that Montreal may need to make another move to trim money at some point this summer.

Penguins Acquire Jeff Petry

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The Penguins moved out a right-shot defender earlier today when they sent John Marino to New Jersey.  It appears he’ll be replaced by Jeff Petry as Pittsburgh has acquired the veteran along with center Ryan Poehling from Montreal in exchange for blueliner Mike Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick.  Both teams have confirmed the swap.

The 34-year-old is coming off a tough season with Montreal that saw him struggle as their top defender in the absence of Shea Weber.  He struggled mightily offensively to start the year as over the first three months of the year, he had just two assists in 27 games.  However, Petry’s performance improved following the coaching change that saw Martin St. Louis take over behind the bench and he was much better down the stretch, picking up 21 points in the final three months of the season.  Overall, Petry finished up the year with six goals and 21 assists in 68 games, his lowest point total since the 2015-16 campaign, his first full season with the Canadiens.

Around the midway point of the year, he also requested a trade for family reasons.  While he was widely expected to move at the trade deadline and again at the draft, it has taken a while for a move to materialize.

Petry has three years left on his contract with a $6.25MM AAV and Montreal GM Kent Hughes stated earlier this week that he wasn’t interested in retaining any salary to facilitate a trade.  While the Marino move freed up roughly $3.5MM in cap flexibility, that wasn’t enough to absorb Petry’s full deal which is what prompted Matheson’s inclusion in the swap.  Petry had been speculated as a possible replacement for Kris Letang if the veteran was to leave in free agency.  Instead, Letang signed a six-year deal and Petry will now help form a quality one-two punch on the right side of their back end with Petry’s AAV checking in just above Letang’s to make him the highest-paid blueliner on the team.

Matheson was a top-four defender early in his career with Florida but his stock started to dip a few years ago, resulting in him being flipped for Patric Hornqvist.  The move worked out well for the 28-year-old as he had a career year offensively in 2021-22, picking up 11 goals and 20 assists in 74 games while logging just under 19 minutes a night.  He was also quite productive for the Penguins in the playoffs, notching a goal and five helpers in seven games to lead all Pittsburgh blueliners in scoring while averaging over 25 minutes per contest.

Matheson has four years remaining on his contract with a $4.875MM AAV on a deal that is somewhat heavily backloaded with his payout set to jump to $6.5MM per season in each of the final three seasons.  He immediately becomes the blueliner with the longest contract on the Canadiens while also being their highest-paid.  He’ll likely take the place of Alexander Romanov on Montreal’s depth chart as the youngster was traded back at the draft to the Islanders for the 13th-overall pick which was then flipped to Chicago to pick up center Kirby Dach.

As for Poehling, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick of Montreal back in 2017 (25th overall) and spent most of last season with the Canadiens, notching nine goals and eight assists in 57 games while averaging just over 12 minutes per game.  He’s likely to have a similar role in Pittsburgh’s bottom six in 2022-23.  Poehling is signed for the league minimum for next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer.

With the move, Pittsburgh now has just under $2MM in cap space with RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen still to sign.  That’s not enough for the 25-year-old so it would appear that GM Ron Hextall has another move to try to make.  Meanwhile, Montreal frees up a little over $2MM with this swap, giving them a little over $2.3MM in cap room with Dach as their most notable RFA in need of a new deal.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract and cap info courtesy of CapFriendly.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Petry was heading to Pittsburgh.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the trade details.

Latest On Jeff Petry

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The Montreal Canadiens have made some serious changes to the roster this summer but some of the high-priced talent is still in town. Jeff Petry in particular is an odd fit for the rebuilding club, given his age (34) and struggles last season. With his public desire for a different fit closer to home, pressure has continued to build in Montreal for general manager Kent Hughes to find a trade.

Well, perceived pressure at least.

Hughes met with the media today and explained that while it is a priority he will not rush into a decision on Petry that weakens the Canadiens’ moving forward. He reiterated that if a trade is to be made, Montreal will not be retaining any of the money left on the veteran defenseman’s contract. Petry carries a $6.25MM cap hit for the next three seasons.

At the end of the day it’s about finding that trade that makes sense for the Montreal Canadiens. If we’re able to find it, we’ll do it. If not, Jeff will have to return to Montreal and play here. We love him as a player, I think he loves everything about Montreal other than the complications from a family perspective. 

The key here is that the Canadiens aren’t considering a Petry trade a salary dump and are maintaining that they will keep him through the end of his contract if necessary. While some of that is likely just a negotiating tactic, if the Canadiens are truly unwilling to retain any salary, Petry’s market will likely shrivel considerably.

It’s hard for any team to absorb a $6.25MM cap hit and even more difficult to do it for a defenseman who is signed through his 37th birthday. Petry’s offensive production fell last season to just 27 points in 68 games as he appeared disinterested (or perhaps just distracted) at times, and there is no sure bet that it will return if he goes elsewhere.

Still, for teams that miss out on other right-shot puck-movers in free agency and other trades, Petry remains an option that is available for the right price. Hughes was asked directly whether John Klingberg’s availability was holding things up, he replied “not necessarily.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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