Jake Evans

Thanks to a 13-3-1 record from December 17th to January 21st, there was growing belief that the Montreal Canadiens may pull one of the top rental centers off the trade market and instead target an extension. However, due to a 1-6-1 record through their last eight contests, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun believes the Canadiens have repivoted toward trading Jake Evans at this year’s trade deadline.

LeBrun shared that Evans and Montreal exchanged numbers on a hypothetical contract extension but haven’t gotten close. He also hints that more teams have called the Canadiens regarding Evans’ availability since they began sliding down the Eastern Conference standings.

There’s no question that Evans would make a valuable rental candidate for almost any contending team. He’s only two points shy of reaching a career-high in points while being the leading center on the seventh-ranked penalty kill in the league. The Toronto, Ontario native also gained ample playoff experience during Montreal’s Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.

Evans’ 11 goals and 27 points through 55 games this season don’t suggest he should be placed in a top-six role with a playoff team, but he’s an ideal third-line center for most clubs. The Canadiens may be able to create a bidding war, given his reasonable $1.7MM salary without any trade protection.

The Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets could all use more depth down the middle as they continue their push toward the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Montreal should have plenty of flexibility to capture the best available return.

The Montreal Canadiens are well-positioned to be deadline sellers for the fourth consecutive season. They also might have one of the most valuable rental candidates on the market.

Middle-six center Jake Evans is in the middle of a career year, only 11 points away from reaching career-highs in scoring despite playing in 39 fewer games. He’s scored seven goals and 19 points in 33 games for the Canadiens this season and sits fourth on the team in scoring. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer when his three-year, $5.1MM contract concludes.

Montreal should theoretically be interested in keeping a player like Evans around but if they do — he doesn’t know it. In an interview with Eric Engels of Sportsnet, Evans replied, “Still crickets” when asked about extension negotiations with the Canadiens.

The Toronto, Ontario native is on pace for 17 goals and 47 points should he continue his current pace for the rest of the regular season. His career 50.8% faceoff rate and 89.2% on-ice save percentage in all situations should give interested teams confidence that Evans can play center toward the bottom of a contending lineup.

Evans’ biggest issue is his inconsistency over the last several years. That’s something he acknowledged in the interview with Engels when he said, “You start to understand your role and where you’re going to fit in and where you’re going to bring value to a team. Sometimes it takes guys half a season, but for me, moving up and down the lineup, you don’t really know what kind of player you’re supposed to be, and now I feel like I’ve finally found it.”

Still, even though he could conceivably double his current salary on the open market, Evans strikes as a player the Canadiens should keep around for the long haul. Cap space won’t be a concern for Montreal anytime soon and Evans has proven his value to the organization this season.

Little has changed for the basement-dwelling Canadiens to start the season. Their 4-6-1 record has them tied with the Bruins for last place in the Atlantic Division, and their -15 goal differential is second-worst in the league, behind only the Sharks’ -17 mark.

The slow start can mainly be attributed to poor team defense. The Habs are controlling an abysmal 43.2% of shot attempts and 41.2% of high-danger chances at 5-on-5, contributing along with average goaltending to a league-worst 4.18 goals against per game. But a lack of high-powered offense despite a fiery-hot top line of Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský and Nick Suzuki isn’t helping matters either. With patience slowly beginning to run thin, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote recently that general manager Kent Hughes is “looking for an edge up front,” just not at the expense of any up-and-comers they think could make an impact in the next couple of years.

But the Habs have a bevy of legitimately useful NHL talents, especially down the middle, that could be flipped in hopes of landing a piece with more offensive punch. One of them is 28-year-old Jake Evans, who sources tell Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gambler is drawing early-season trade interest from “at least three teams.”

A seventh-round pick back in 2014, Evans has consistently shouldered third-line minutes over the past few seasons. While doing so, he’s posted decent possession metrics in challenging even-strength deployment for one of the league’s worst defensive teams. He’s kept that up this season, rocking a 43.4 CF% and a 48.3 xGF% that ride above team averages. He’s also upped his game offensively in a small sample, scoring twice and adding three assists for five points in 11 games. That works out to 0.45 per game, a marginal uptick on the 28 points in 82 games (0.34 per game) he recorded last season.

Evans isn’t much of a chance generator on his own. After recording 124 shots on goal in 72 games in 2021-22, leading to a career-high 13 goals and 29 points, he’s only averaged around one shot per game. He gets involved physically, however – his 65 blocked shots ranked second among Habs forwards last season behind Slafkovský. Since making his NHL debut in the 2019-20 season, he’s also been their most oft-deployed forward on the penalty kill, averaging 2:27 per game while shorthanded over his career. He’s averaged 3:31 on the PK this year, 38 seconds more than second-place Christian Dvorak.

But Evans is a pending unrestricted free agent, and given his age, he’s likely playing the most effective hockey of his career. That means he won’t be a core part of the Canadiens teams the organization hopes to challenge for playoff spots in the next few years, and if he does stick around, it would be in a reduced role. With his career-average 51.0 FOW%, he can help more competitive teams looking to add a more defensively responsible pivot to their bottom six.

As D’Amico points out, the Canadiens aren’t just considering changing their forward group. They would also like to add a right-shot defenseman if possible. While Evans alone won’t get them a premier talent there, flipping a player who’s questionable to re-sign could at least help them shore up their depth at the position.