On the Montreal Canadiens, Nathan Beaulieu, Alexander Radulov, Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights…
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on TSN 690 talking about the Montreal Canadiens. GM Marc Bergevin was likely looking to trade Nathan Beaulieu for a while but it wasn’t easy as there were many players available. Any player that wasn’t protected could be available.
“And what I mean by that is if you can’t cut a deal with the team that left him unprotected, then you can maybe cut a deal with Vegas to pick that player and give them something in exchange for it. So there’s kind of a glut on the market right now. It’s probably not an ideal time to be trading a defenseman.”
There could be other trades that Bergevin has in place or deals that he will put in place. The Canadiens were in talks with the Wild before the expansion trade freeze kicked in.
“I know they tried real hard to get Marco Scandella out of Minnesota over the past number of days. They weren’t able to do that. Scandella is now apparently available in the expansion draft to Vegas, along with Matt Dumba – unless Minnesota cuts a deal with Vegas or has cut a deal with Vegas to protect that and not lose them.
“So the challenge then becomes for Marc Bergevin – well, if you want Scandella and couldn’t get him from Minnesota, maybe you can call George McPhee, do a deal with him and have them select (Scandella) – unless, as I said, a deal is already in place with Minnesota.”
Talk moved to Alexander Radulov. McKenzie adds that there was no chance they would have signed him before the expansion draft.
“I’m sure that the Montreal Canadiens are going to be very sensitive to the fact that term is an issue. I’m sure that initially, he was probably looking for a home run – six, seven, eight years. Take your pick from one of those numbers.
“I’m sure the Montreal Canadiens are saying, ‘Not a chance in the world we’re going any longer than – we’d like one or two, but we know that’s not possible.’ So I’m thinking Montreal doesn’t want to go any more than three years.”
McKenzie wonders if the Vegas Golden Knights would be interested in Radulov to play with Russian center Vadim Shipachyov. They can afford to give Radulov term and money.
Jonathan Drouin was basically added to replace Radulov and Alex Galchenyuk may or may not be moved.