On the Montreal Canadiens …
The Fourth Period: One source said the desire isn’t very high at the moment for the Canadiens to trade forward Max Pacioretty. Though it is possible, it seems unlikely that the Pacioretty will be traded this season.
The Canadiens have had forwards Andrew Shaw and Michael McCarron on the trade block for most of the season.
“In a perfect world, would I love to add a piece to help them? Of course,” Bergevin said on Saturday, as quoted by the Canadiens’ website. “But to sacrifice the future and to take major risks with the organizations’ long-term , I’m not ready to do that.”
The 35-year old Tomas Plekanec is a pending unrestricted free agent the Canadiens are debating about moving him. Plekanec doesn’t have a no-trade clause.
Chris Nichols of Fan Rag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on NBCSN and the Montreal Canadiens, Max Pacioretty, and Alex Galchenyuk came up in his discussion.
“Again, you can see a group of dissatisfied teams that are trying to shake things up a little bit and that would start with the Montreal Canadiens,” said McKenzie. “Max Pacioretty, he’s their captain. They’re asking a lot for him. There’s no guarantee that this is a trade that’ll be made in-season. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s maybe more likely closer to the draft than in-season. But in-season is a possibility.
“Alex Galchenyuk has been in the rumor mill so long in Montreal that I could be cynical right now and say if he wasn’t traded last year, I don’t like his chances of being traded this year. But he does have 10 goals over the course of this season.
Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette: The Canadiens had planned on using the gained salary cap space – now at $8 million – from not re-signing Alexander Radulov and Andrei Markov at the trade deadline.
Problem is they may not be in a position for a playoff run, and will likely be sellers at the deadline. It won’t be a fire sale, but they have some pieces they can move.
Tomas Plekanec carries a $6 million salary cap hit but might interest a team looking for a shutdown center rental.