The Montreal Canadiens were the third team in a trade involving Erik Karlsson being moved from the San Jose Sharks to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins needed them to help clear cap space; in doing so, the Canadiens freed themselves of Mike Hoffman’s contract and acquired both defensive and goaltending assets in Jeff Petry and Casey DeSmith. Petry and DeSmith can now either remain in Montreal and help the team, be moved before the season starts, or at the trade deadline and still support the team. Montreal’s general manager (GM) Kent Hughes definitely still has some moves to make.
Canadiens Will Likely Move Petry Before Season
After acquiring Petry, the Canadiens find themselves with a bit of a log jam on defence. They still have their four young players in Kayden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, and Justin Barron, along with veterans Mike Matheson, David Savard, and Chris Wideman. They also have Jonathan Kovacevic, which gives them nine defencemen for seven spots. It could be easy to put two of the younger players in the American Hockey League (AHL) to play with the Laval Rocket, but all four players had strong rookie seasons playing in the NHL. A demotion to the AHL could be seen as a step backward. Wideman is easily the odd man out and will probably be waived to Laval, and with his low annual average value (AAV), another team could pick him off waivers. Another option is to trade an older defencemen and keep the young players; both waiving Wideman and trading a player puts the Habs at seven defensemen.
Petry would be the best option if the Canadiens decide to move defencemen. When he was in Montreal last, his wife was unhappy with the COVID regulations of Quebec, and they chose to live in the United States. Being separated from his family was hard on Petry, and he let management know. Hughes eventually traded Petry in the offseason of 2022 for what he thought was the best package for him, getting Matheson in return from the Penguins. With all this in mind, the likelihood of Petry returning to Montreal is pretty low, and with Pittsburgh taking 25% in the return trade for Petry, it makes his AVV $4.6 million instead of over $6 million. The Habs could also retain 50% of the remaining AVV, and now you have a top four defencemen on the market at a team-friendly $2.4 million AVV. Petry would be the most accessible player to move and not lose young assets.
Canadiens Have Options in Goal
With the acquisition of DeSmith, the Canadiens now find themselves with four goalies that could play with the team this season. Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault have held down the fort the past two seasons and have the inside track. On the other hand, Cayden Primeau still has work to prove he’s NHL-ready and will likely play in Laval if he can clear waivers. DeSmith is a competent backup in the NHL, and he sports a .912 save percentage (SV%) with 58 wins in 134 games – 115 starts. DeSmith brings two things to the table: a quality backup for a cheap AAV of $1.8 million and waiver protection for Primeau, who is no longer non-waiver eligible and can potentially be lost for nothing. He also will help push Montembeault and Allen for the backup role and force Hughes’s hand into dealing one of his goaltenders.
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It could be argued that the Canadiens could trade Allen and his $3.8 AAV and go with a tandem of Montembeault and DeSmith. Montreal is currently $5.1 million over the cap and would like to avoid using Carey Prices’ long-term injury reserve (LTIR) as much as possible. Ridding themselves of Allen’s contract would go a long way in reaching that goal. However, moving him without losing some assets would be complex. We all know that Hughes does not like to use support to rid himself of contracts, and unless he can pull off another Hoffman move, I don’t see him moving Allen without a sweetener.
Montembeault should be pretty safe as well. He is on the last year of his $1 million AAV contract, and unless the Habs feel he’s not their goalie of the future, he will be staying in Montreal. That leaves DeSmith and his one-year $1.8 AAV contract as the most likely goaltender to be moved; his contract is very team-friendly for a goalie with above-league-average numbers.
Canadiens Still Need to Move a Forward
With Hoffman out of the lineup, the Canadiens have room for one of their young players, like recently re-signed Jesse Ylonen or Rafael Harvey-Pinard, to be inserted in the lineup quickly. To get both, however, they still need to make more room on the roster to ensure all their young guns can make the team. Joel Armia would be the best option to move from both a clear cap space and roster space standpoint, but a $3.4 million AAV for a fourth-line penalty killer is a difficult contract to move. Armia has flashes of being a pretty good two-way player, but injuries have slowed his game down considerably, making him dispensable. Even though he would be the player Montreal management would most want to move, he’s also probably the most immovable player left on the roster.
The Canadiens could waive him and put him in Laval, or they could buy him out and take the hit for the next four seasons. The latter option is improbable, and if a trade can’t be made involving Armia, then the first option is the most realistic. Montreal could also use the retention of Petry’s contract as a sweetener for moving Armia; they could talk to a team and agree to retain 50% of Petry’s contract if they take the contract of Armia. It’s an option but probably not a realistic one, they could also have 50% of Armia’s contract, but if they want to get the best return on Petry, they won’t want to reach their maintained contract limit, especially if two of them will be over two years.
If the Canadiens can move Allen or Armia, then cap-wise, that’s a huge bonus, but they are most likely to move Petry and DeSmith before the season starts. They have the best value for any reasonable return, mainly if Montreal retains some portion of Petry’s salary. It will be an exciting couple of weeks, but I’m pretty sure Hughes is not finished with offseason moves, and as always, it will probably be something we never expected.