Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked about the Montreal Canadiens’ needs with a second-line center and a right-shot defenseman. Given the assets they have accumulated, could they be that aggressive this offseason?
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Host: “So, Dave, you say the Canadiens are looking for a right-shot defenseman and a top-six forward, and I’m saying who isn’t, right? That’s the issue here, it’s definitely a seller’s market. And if the Canadiens want to land one of those two things, if not both those things, when we look at the trade, it’s probably going to look like, oh man, the Canadiens overpaid, but that seems like it’s what the market dictates right now.”
Dave Pagnotta: “And they’re in a position to do that, and I think they’re comfortable doing that if they find the right fit. You look at a lot of teams out there that have stockpiled prospects and draft picks, they’ve done it for these purposes. They’ve done it for the reason of we know we’re going to get to a point where if we add a little extra, we’ll get the job done, and our cupboard is so deep that we can afford to do that.
You look at some of these teams that are stockpiling, I think St. Louis has 14 picks in this year’s draft. Like they’re going to utilize some of those, they’re going to try anyway to bring in pieces that are out more immediate as they go through their little transition from Doug Armstrong to Alex Steen as GM.
Steen has basically pulled Robert Thomas off the trade market and is looking at, at alternative options with Jordan Kyrou (traded to Washington), with Colton Parayko (now off the board), with Jordan Binnington. I’ve talked to a few players that are in the market across the league yesterday, and they’re all curious as to what the heck’s going to happen, because we keep tabs on it, they keep tabs on it too, there’s a lot of activity out there.
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Certainly, for teams like the Habs that have all these picks and prospects, that’s why they do that; that’s why you stockpile, because you can take those next steps. Chicago’s in a similar position. A lot of teams. Look at what LA had a number of years ago. They were considered one of the deepest prospect pools in the league from I think 2015 to 2020 in that range, and not a lot of those guys turned over, even past that, even let’s say 2018 to 2022 there were a lot of top tier prospects at the time on LA, and they held on to almost all of them, minus a couple of moves here and there.
They moved out, largely, they moved out, I follow, they moved out (Rasmus) Kupari, who’s now in Europe, but they had so many others and so many opportunities to put those pieces together to bring in immediate help. They thought all those guys were going to hit. They’re not all going to hit, but they look good in the moment, so that’s why you stockpile, because it’s enticing to make those types of moves.
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Teams look at that and go, okay, those were some mistakes we don’t want to replicate, so we’ll take the shot now, take our swings, and see if it works out. The Canadiens, again, are in a prime position to do that, and if they do pay a little bit extra, because they give up an extra prospect or an extra pick, it’s the Vegas-Florida mentality, and now Carolina, too.
You’re bringing in assets that are going to be here for the long haul. Same thing going back to last year with (Noah) Dobson, you gave up two firsts and (Emil) Heinemann, okay? But you got Dobson for eight years at the age that he’s at. Vegas did the same with (Jack) Eichel, they’ve done the same with a bunch of their guys. Florida’s done the same here. Then you’ve got Brady Tkachuk now for two years. Yeah, he’s probably going to sign an extension.
Guess what, he’s only 26. He’ll be 28 when you sign that deal. He’ll be 35 by the end of that contract. The window is there; the juice is worth the squeeze. Teams are willing to squeeze it out, and the Canadiens are in a prime position to do that.
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