The Montreal Canadiens’ season hasn’t started exactly how they envisioned or wanted, but they will have to deal with any adversity nonetheless. The team is 1-1-1 through three games and have recently just lost Kirby Dach to a season-ending injury already. This team looks like they are headed towards another season in which they are sellers at the trade deadline, or even before. We’re going to take a look at the players who should be safe, at least until the offseason.
Nick Suzuki & Cole Caufield
I think Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, out of the entire Canadiens team, are the most obvious choices to stick around. The Canadiens locked both of them up long-term on very good deals and they are the two most productive players on the team. They have great chemistry and are the core pieces at forward that the team is trying to build around.
Suzuki is the captain, and only if a team’s captain wants out or is aging and it is time to move on, there’s no reason to trade a 24-year-old captain that is getting better each season and is a leader for the young team. Caufield is even younger and may be the best goal-scorer that the Canadiens have seen in a long time. He’s signed through 2031 and there’s absolutely no reason for him to be traded either with a cap hit of under $8 million average annual value (AAV).
Juraj Slafkovsky
The Canadiens’ first-overall pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, didn’t have the first season he or the team was hoping for or expecting. Through 39 games, he scored four goals and recorded 10 points. That might be somewhat on par for some of the first-overall picks over the last number of seasons in their first taste of the NHL, but it still wasn’t a strong performance. The congestion of the Canadiens’ lineup kept Slafkovsky out of the top six and even on the fourth line a lot. He got injured as well, so he didn’t get half a season of development.
Slafkovsky looks like a completely different player this season and not only earned a spot on the wing in the top six, but is showing why he is going to keep it. First-overall picks don’t get traded this early, not by a competitive team or a rebuilding team. With the leap he’s had over the summer and the type of player he should become, he is a very important piece of the future in Montreal. It would take until at least 2025 to warrant a trade, and that’s if he shows no sign of improvement. From what has already been shown this season, that won’t happen.
Kirby Dach & Alex Newhook
Over the last year and a bit, the Canadiens have brought in two young forwards that were being shipped out by other teams. The Chicago Blackhawks wanting to move Dach was interesting, but it worked out for the Canadiens getting themselves a number two center who was already a couple seasons into his career and still very young. As for Alex Newhook, he was brought in through a trade with the Colorado Avalanche this past summer and he, too, has found himself already in the top six. The Canadiens have the time to develop these 22-year-olds, despite a season-long injury to Dach.
The Canadiens’ goal was to get younger and build a core group of players that would all be hitting their primes at the same time. Dach and Newhook are the perfect age and on the rise. With Dach now set to miss the remainder of the season, there’s no chance or reasoning why he would be traded. As for Newhook, the Canadiens will now want a good season-long look at him in a top-six role, whether that be at center or the wing. He’s filling in at center on the second line for the time being. The Canadiens already lost a centerman for the entire year and could be trading one or two later this season. It isn’t logical to also move him right after signing him to a four-year deal at a good price, either.
The Unmovable Contract, Brendan Gallagher
Brendan Gallagher has the final bad contract on the team and he isn’t going anywhere. The long-time Hab is just starting his third of a six-year contract that has a partial no-trade clause and a cap hit of $6.5 million AAV. It appears as though the Canadiens are just going to have to eat this one until the final year or two in the deal when a buyout is more realistic.
Gallagher is currently slotted in on the third line and is a good veteran presence, but he is nowhere close to contributing the way he used to. He’s only averaging 12:25 of ice time per game and has no points through three games to begin the season. This is not about the Canadiens not wanting to move him, I bet they do. This is about no logical or reasonable way to do it when the team likely isn’t winning this season and not against the cap.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard
While there are a lot of defensemen, and one of the younger players on the back end might be moved this season or soon after, the same can’t be said about the forward group. The forward prospects are weaker and there are fewer options that will be able to come into the NHL and make an impact in the next couple of seasons.
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This is good for a player like Rafael Harvey-Pinard who stepped up last season and is set to again in 2023-24. When there were a lot of injuries, the rookie got into 34 games in the top six and scored 14 goals and added six assists. Now that Dach is out for the season, the coaching staff is trying to rekindle some of that magic by moving Harvey-Pinard back to the top line and evening out the scoring a bit. He’s 24 years old, a scorer, and can move up and down the lineup when needed. He’s also under contract for this season and next at a good price. There’s no reason to move him when he can be part of the future.
Michael Matheson
Michael Matheson started last season very strong, but like many others, his season was cut short. His best season came in 2021-22 when he scored 11 goals and 31 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was traded to the Canadiens that offseason. Matheson was, and still remains, the number one defenseman on the team. Last season, he only got into 48 games, but he scored eight goals and 34 points while playing in all situations.
Why would the Canadiens trade their number one defenseman right now with such a young group around him and other trade candidates from the defensive group? The Canadiens aren’t trying to lose, they are trying to build something that will last. I argue that trading Matheson would set them back, even with prospects like David Reinbacher, Lane Hutson, and Logan Mailloux in the system. The Canadiens likely want to push for the playoffs as soon as next season and Matheson is under contract through 2026.
Kaiden Guhle
Of all the young defensemen in the lineup, I put Kaiden Guhle above the rest right now. He was a high pick and is panning out nicely for the team already. We will see him get time on the top pairing. But if not, he is a strong option on the team’s second pairing. While there was a battle between a lot of the other younger defensemen on the roster to take the defensive spots on the Canadiens, Guhle was above the rest. When the team decides to clear space on the back end, there are a number of other options to move, and it might not even come this season.
The Canadiens will have a tough time staying in a spot where they are a threat to make the playoffs. This will allow other teams to show interest in players on their roster. The Canadiens will surely make a couple of trades by the deadline, and if they don’t see a future with a more unexpected player, we could see them moved as well. Don’t expect these nine Canadiens to be on the move this season.
