Could the Montreal Canadiens Move A Young Defenseman for a Forward
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked about what the Montreal Canadiens could do this offseason and if one of their young defensemen would be a part of a trade.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
NHL Rumors: Montreal Canadiens, and the New Jersey Devils
Host “So, it’s funny because I believe it’s Reinbacher and Guhle, depending on how you want to look at it. You know, I think it’s splitting hairs between the two.
Dave, we keep hearing the Canadiens want to make a move in the offseason to bring in an impact forward; that’s what everybody’s saying. And then I see right before the deadline; the Colorado Avalanche have to part with Bo Byram to get (Casey) Mittelstadt. So to me, that means if the Canadiens want to get an impact forward, the conversation is going to start with Guhle or Reinbacher.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Probably and I don’t know necessarily if that’s the full MO of Kent Hughes in terms of that magnitude of deal. It depends on, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, right so the overall value of the player. Colorado with the move that they made, you know, Byram had been out there for for some time, and they were looking and wanting to solidify their 2C position. I mean, that was abundantly clear.
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So you move out a piece on the when you obviously have Cale Makar, kind of leading the charge. You’ve got the Devon Toews next to him. You bring in Sean Walker, so at least for this season, you offset things you actually improve your D with the way the Walker’s performed this season. And then you get yourself a second-line center that they’ve desperately been in need of and looking for. So again, it’s situational.
They had a piece that were willing to move in order to address an area that they wanted to improve on. And, you know, it’s this this is not a quick fix. He’s an RFA. He’s controllable. Mittelstadt is. So, for that type of deal, it made sense for for those two particular teams.
Buffalo now in a position to have Power, Rasmus Dahlin, and now, Bowen Byram on the back end, so they kind of solidified the D-corp for the most part out there and now they’re gonna have to eventually address the forward position.
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So, from a Canadian perspective, you’re looking at all these pieces that you have. I don’t know if there’s necessarily that type of option available, but that’s part of the gig. Like, Hughes and his staff are gonna have to look to find, if that’s something that they want to do, that type of player, and I don’t get the sense that they’re looking for, you know, a Mittelstadt type in terms of a second line type player.
I think if they are going big game hunting and utilizing one of their top young defensemen, whether it’s Guhle, Reinbacher, or Hutson, whomever, you’re probably looking at somebody that would impact the first line is my guess based on some of the moves they’ve already made in each of the last two summers by bringing in somebody like Kirby Dach and then Alex Newhook.”