Canadiens Activate Jonathan Drouin
Earlier today, it was announced that several key players were activated off of injured-reserve. One of those players is Montreal Canadiens’ forward Jonathan Drouin (link). Drouin last played for the Canadiens on January 20th, against Vegas, before going on injured reserve for nearly two months.
Despite Montreal being well outside of the playoff picture, there is a potentially exciting detail to his return: a chance to play under interim head coach Martin St. Louis. After St. Louis took over coaching duties for the Canadiens, forward Cole Caufield saw a resurgence and a return to form of the player he was in last year’s playoffs. While Drouin had not struggled this year in the ways that Caufield did, perhaps a change of pace in that of St. Louis could offer a boost to Drouin, who currently has six goals and 14 assists in 32 games this season.
Strong Interest In Artturi Lehkonen
The Canadiens have already moved out two key players in winger Tyler Toffoli (traded to Calgary last month) and defenseman Ben Chiarot (moved to Florida on Wednesday). Now, it appears they’ll have another big decision to make when it comes to winger Artturi Lehkonen as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that there is strong interest in the 26-year-old. However, Montreal is apparently weighing that against the prospect of signing the pending RFA to a long-term extension.
Lehkonen has spent his entire six-year career with the Canadiens who drafted him in the second round (55th overall) back in 2013. He scored 18 goals in his rookie season but has failed to reach that mark since then although he has 13 in 57 games this season. However, he has become a very valuable defensive winger that plays on both wings and can play up and down the lineup while logging heavy minutes on the penalty kill. He played that role in Montreal’s playoff run last season while also scoring the series winner against Vegas to send them to the Stanley Cup Final.
At $2.3MM, his price tag is low enough that most teams could afford him this season, particularly if Montreal uses one of their two remaining retention slots to pay down up to 50% of that. Considering the returns that teams have paid for middle-six wingers with some team control in recent years (Tampa Bay’s acquisitions of Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman, and Brandon Hagel among them), it’s expected that the Canadiens will place a similar price tag to part with Lehkonen; Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that Montreal’s ask involves a first-round pick or equivalent prospect and potentially a second asset.
Of course, this is a different situation. While Lehkonen is still controllable for one more year, he’s not signed for next season and will be eyeing a raise this summer, one that will likely push him past the $3MM mark. Goodrow, Coleman, and Hagel all had at least one year left on their existing contracts at a below-market rate which helped drive their value up significantly.
In his press conference earlier this week, GM Kent Hughes indicated he wasn’t interested in having a fire sale for his team. However, with there being strong interest in Lehkonen, it appears he’ll need to seriously consider parting with another important player with an opportunity to add another future asset or two to their stockpile.
Mathieu Perreault, Tyler Benson Placed Clear Waivers
March 17: Both players have cleared waivers; Benson has already been loaned to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
March 16: The Montreal Canadiens have placed Mathieu Perreault on waivers, as several players currently on injured reserve get closer to returning. He won’t be alone though, as the Edmonton Oilers have also waived Tyler Benson.
Perreault, 34, actually cleared waivers last season as well, though at that point it was more about his expensive cap hit than anything else. This time the veteran forward is signed for just $950K but has found himself out of the lineup for most of the year, due to injury or inconsistent on-ice play. In 18 games he has just three goals and five points, though that does include an assist in last night’s match against the Arizona Coyotes.
While he may intrigue some teams because of the 700 games of NHL experience, Perreault is long past the point of being a top-six contributor and would likely only fit as a depth piece on a contending squad. Even in Montreal he hasn’t been a regular and is averaging fewer than 12 minutes when he does get into the lineup.
Benson meanwhile is sort of on the other end of his career, unable to break into the league in the first place. The 24-year-old has been outstanding in the minors for several years, was the 32nd overall pick in 2016, and yet can’t seem to make an impact at the NHL level. In 29 games this season he has just two points, and is likely headed back to the AHL to make room for Jesse Puljujarvi should he clear tomorrow.
While Benson does have youth on his side, it’s very unclear at this point whether another team wants to give him a chance through the waivers process. Interestingly enough, clearing waivers actually could potentially raise his trade value for any deadline dealing the Oilers have in mind, as he would then be able to move up and down for any acquiring team instead of sitting on the NHL roster.
Panthers Acquire Ben Chiarot
The Panthers have added to their back end, acquiring Ben Chiarot from the Canadiens in exchange for their 2023 first-round pick, a 2022 fourth-round selection (acquired in today’s Frank Vatrano trade), and prospect center Ty Smilanic. Montreal will retain 50% of Chiarot’s $3.5MM AAV as part of the deal. Florida GM Bill Zito released the following statement about his newest rearguard:
Ben is a solid veteran defenseman that will bring both experience and size to our blue line. Having reached the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal last season, he is a player that knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run, which is what our organization is striving for in these next few months.
The 30-year-old blueliner has worked his way up from being a role player in Winnipeg to a key part of Montreal’s back end, logging at least 21:47 a night in each of his three seasons with the Canadiens. His offensive numbers aren’t overly exciting – just seven goals and 11 assists in 54 games – but he is better known for his physicality and defensive game, elements that the Panthers certainly covet as they load up for what they hope will be a lengthy playoff run.
It’s Chiarot’s performance in the playoffs last season that had him on the radar for several contenders and had Montreal setting a high asking price comparable to last season’s David Savard trade. He logged more than 25 minutes a night for the Canadiens in their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final, playing a key shutdown role along the way. That’s likely the role that Florida envisions for him as a complementary partner for Aaron Ekblad on their top pairing, allowing MacKenzie Weegar to drop to the second pair. The net cap cost in this trade is still lower than Vatrano’s so Florida still has ample cap space to work with to try to make another addition before Monday’s trade deadline.
It should come as no surprise that Chiarot was traded with Montreal well out of playoff contention and the fact the team made him a healthy scratch against Arizona on Tuesday for what was termed a managerial decision. They managed to add three future assets including the first-round pick they were coveting. Worth noting is that while there is no condition on Florida’s 2023 first-rounder, the deal could technically change if Florida was to somehow fall out of the playoffs and land a top-ten pick this year. In that case, this 2023 pick would be conveyed to Buffalo from the Sam Reinhart trade. Of course, that’s extremely unlikely to happen. The Canadiens will also assume the conditions on the fourth-rounder from the Vatrano deal and will receive the lowest-rated of the fourth-round selections the Rangers have – their own and Winnipeg’s.
As for Smilanic, the 20-year-old was a third-round selection (74th overall) back in 2020. He has played in 38 games with Quinnipiac of the NCAA this season, picking up 13 goals and nine assists. He was also selected to USA’s entry into the since-postponed World Juniors. Montreal has until August 15, 2024 to sign him to an entry-level deal.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report that Chiarot was being traded to Montreal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ryan Poehling Out Indefinitely
- Ryan Poehling will be out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, the Montreal Canadiens announced today. Poehling took a hard shot from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Justin Braun over the weekend and exited the game. Though he still hasn’t contributed a ton of offense, Poehling looked like he was finally finding his stride in the NHL as a big-bodied center, a progression that will now be halted as he deals with this injury. The 23-year-old first-round pick has five goals and 12 points in 45 games this season.
Montreal Canadiens To Scratch Ben Chiarot As Deadline Approaches
The Montreal Canadiens, perhaps influenced by the recent injury to Jakob Chychrun, have decided to protect their prized trade deadline asset and will scratch Ben Chiarot for tonight’s match according to several reports including Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
It should come as no surprise that Chiarot will be traded, as his name has been in the rumor mill basically from the moment the season began. The 30-year-old defenseman is in the final season of a three-year, $10.5MM contract signed in 2019 and carries a cap hit of just $3.5MM. That number, especially if the Canadiens retain a portion of it, is one that many of the league’s top contenders could fit into their salary structure at this point in the season.
While he usually doesn’t bring much offensive upside, Chiarot has actually showcased extremely well for the Canadiens of late, racking up six points in his last five games (and nine in his last nine) including a two-goal effort against the Calgary Flames earlier this month. He’s now averaging more than 23 minutes a night on the season a number that has only gone up in recent games when he’s been averaging close to 25. Beyond all he’s done in the regular season, there’s one thing that is still driving the market for the Canadiens’ big defenseman–his play in last year’s postseason.
There is a perception that Chiarot, alongside Shea Weber and often playing with Philip Danault, was a huge part of the team’s Cinderella-like run to the Stanley Cup Finals. The length, physicality, and toughness of Chiarot are considered a perfect mix for the playoffs, though there are also a few misconceptions about his play last year. In the 285 minutes he played beside Weber at five-on-five, Chiarot’s results were great, allowing just nine goals against despite some tough matchups. But his numbers away from the Canadiens’ captain absolutely plummeted, to the point where Montreal was actually outscored 23-16 with Chiarot on the ice overall at even strength.
That should at least raise a bit of concern for contenders looking to pay a hefty price to add the defenseman, especially since this season, again without Weber, the Canadiens have been outscored 59-40 at even strength with Chiarot on the ice. A big part of that is the overall strength of the team and the tough defensive deployment he faces nightly but he’s also not a lock to improve a team’s play, at least not at the first-round pick cost that has been discussed.
Yesterday, a player in a similar situation–Josh Manson of the Anaheim Ducks–was dealt for a second-round pick and a top prospect. If Chiarot’s bringing back something like that for the Canadiens, it would make sense why he’s being pulled from the lineup. The risk of injury is too great, especially given the recent scare they had when he suffered a minor issue.
Montreal has three games left before the trade deadline, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that trade talks have picked up in recent days. If he is finished in a Canadiens sweater, Chiarot will leave with 17 goals and 46 points in 164 regular season games.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Canadiens’ Cedric Paquette Clears Waivers
March 13: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Paquette cleared waivers today. After going unclaimed, Montreal can now assign him to the Laval Rocket.
March 12: It has been a tough season for Canadiens center Cedric Paquette. He has struggled to stay healthy and when he has been in the lineup, things haven’t gone much better. As a result, Montreal has placed Paquette on waivers, as first reported by TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).
The 28-year-old signed with Montreal in the summer, inking a one-year, $950K deal with an eye on him playing a regular role on the fourth line and penalty kill. However, he has wound up playing in just 24 games this season, recording two assists while logging less than nine minutes a night in ice time. That production is largely in line with last season when he managed just eight points in 48 games between Ottawa and Carolina where he was in and out of the lineup.
Paquette is a veteran of over 400 NHL regular season games and has 95 career playoff contests under his belt so there’s a small chance a team might want him for depth for the postseason. More likely is that he’ll go unclaimed on Sunday and be sent to AHL Laval where his entire cap hit would come off Montreal’s books.
Jake Allen Skating But Won't Return This Weekend
- While Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen has resumed skating, he won’t suit up in either of Montreal’s games this weekend, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 31-year-old is having a tough year like many are in Montreal and has a .901 SV% in 24 starts this season but has come up as a speculative trade candidate if he’s able to show that he has fully recovered from the lower-body injury that has kept him out for the last two months and get into game action before the March 21st trade deadline.
Injury Notes: Matheson, Edmundson, Donskoi
The Pittsburgh Penguins activated defenseman Mike Matheson from injured reserve today, per the team, sending down young Pierre-Olivier Joseph to the AHL to make way for Matheson’s return. Matheson’s been absent from the lineup for about two weeks, originally classified as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. His offensive production has been a nice surprise for Pittsburgh this season, as he’s on the best pace of his career with 21 points in 50 games. He’s been a solid bottom-four rock in Pittsburgh this season, but he’ll jump up alongside Kris Letang in his return to the ice with Brian Dumoulin out of the lineup.
More injury notes from around the league:
- In what’s been a solid recent surge for the Montreal Canadiens, they could be getting a fan-favorite back into the lineup soon. Defenseman Joel Edmundson has been sidelined all season with an injury, but the team said today that he’s close to making his season debut. What was originally an undisclosed day-to-day injury during training camp in September snowballed into a back injury that’s prevented him from taking the ice this season. He’d be, in effect, Ben Chiarot‘s replacement in the lineup after Chiarot is inevitably dealt at the Trade Deadline, which is arguably an upgrade for the team if Edmundson is at full strength and form. He’s in the second season of a four-year, $14M deal.
- In the midst of a tough season, Seattle Kraken forward Joonas Donskoi has landed on injured reserve. The Kraken recalled forward Kole Lind from the Charlotte Checkers in his place. Donskoi suffered an undisclosed injury during the team’s March 8 game against Toronto. He has just two goals in 57 games this year, shooting at a rate of just 3.0%. Locked in through next season, hopefully, the tides turn over the offseason for Donskoi’s scoring luck.
2022 NHL Draft Confirmed For Montreal
The city of Montreal was set to host the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, but those plans were scuttled when the world was turned upside-down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continued pandemic restrictions meant that the city was unable to hold the draft in 2021 as well, but things finally seemed to change when fans returned to the stands at NHL arenas and the city was awarded the 2022 NHL draft. But as the Canadiens were once more forced to play games behind closed doors this season, the possibility of the draft being moved out of Montreal once again became a very realistic thought. In his annual meeting with the media at the NHL All-Star Weekend, Commissioner Gary Bettman stated that the NHL “would consider” moving the draft out of Montreal if the pandemic restrictions were still in place.
This was a disheartening development for many in the city who were eager to see Montreal host its 27th NHL Draft, but it seems that those fears can now be laid to rest. According to Chris Johnston of TSN, speaking on TSN’s Insider Trading program, the threat of the draft being moved out of Montreal again is “totally gone.” Johnston reports that the expectation is for the draft to be held as it was pre-pandemic, meaning with representatives from every NHL club on the draft floor and the hosting arena featuring a full-capacity crowd. NHL officials will “be heading to Montreal” next week to finalize all the details, but the bottom line is that it looks as if the vision of a draft in Montreal will finally be realized after a significant wait.
For Montreal as a market, this announcement can have particular significance because of the state of the Canadiens’ season. Despite their resurgence under coach Martin St. Louis, the team is still last in the NHL with 37 points. Should they stay in that place in the standings, they will have the highest odds of winning the #1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, and be guaranteed to be picking inside the top-3. For a hockey-mad market like Montreal, the Canadiens potentially being able to select a future franchise cornerstone like Shane Wright at a draft hosted inside the Bell Center is an exciting prospect and a nice consolation prize for a fanbase that has been through a largely miserable season.