Thoughts of NHL expanding beyond 32 teams?
Chris Johnston: On the possibility of NHL expansion.
“Someone had predicted to me during the pandemic that, you know, these owners obviously took on a lot of water during the pandemic when they couldn’t sell tickets to their buildings and all those sorts of things.
And that future expansion would be one way to recoup some of those losses. So that’ll be something. I’m not saying that on the immediate horizon, but, you know, maybe in a year or two time we’re talking about expanding the league beyond 32.
Canadiens trying to increase Sean Monahan‘s value to get a bidding war going?
Marco D’Amico of Montreal Hockey Now: The Montreal Canadiens are setting up for another trade deadline of moving pending free agents.
Sean Monahan is one free agent many expected the Canadiens to move, but Pierre LeBrun mentioned last week that maybe they look at extending him. LeBrun did add he’s more likely to be traded through. Elliotte Friedman added they just told Monahan to relax and just play and they’ll talk later on in the season to see where things sit.
By giving the impression they want to keep Monahan, maybe it help increase the bidding for him at the deadline. The Canadiens kind of did the same thing with Artturi Lehkonen last season before trading him to the Colorado Avalanche.
Should the Montreal Canadiens be interested in Brock Boeser?
Montreal Hockey Now: Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser’s agents reportedly have permission to seek out a trade. He has two years left on his deal at a $6.65 million cap hit.
- Iain MacIntyre: “One thought on @FriedgeHNIC report that Brock Boeser’s agent has permission to find trading partner. That is usually the last resort to getting trade done — after the team has been unable to find a fair deal. Believe the Canucks looked last season and this one.”
The Canadiens shouldn’t be looking to add veteran players at this point in their rebuild, but Boeser is only 25 years old, he could be a bit of a mentor and is still young enough to fit into their long-term vision.
They could use some secondary scoring, especially when their trade bait list consists of Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Monahan, Evgenii Dadonov, Christian Dvorak and Mike Hoffman.