As the trade deadline approaches, we’ll be doing a team-by-team look at who should be buying and selling and which players might be on the move. Today, we have&nbsp;the Montreal Canadiens.







The Situation



What a fall.



Back in July, the Montreal Canadiens were in the Stanley Cup Final. Fast forward six months and they’re dead last in the league at the middle point of the 2021-22 season.



<a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/offseason-review-habs-in-flux-after-wild-summer-on-heels-of-cup-final-run/">The Habs’ offseason was as wild as their playoff run. </a>



Shortly after losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning, news came out that captain <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/bergevin-shea-weber-longshot-to-ever-play-in-nhl-again/">Shea Weber would never play again due to various injuries</a> and that goaltender Carey Price would undergo knee surgery. Beyond that, Montreal also lost Philip Danault, Tomas Tatar, and Corey Perry in free agency and Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet. <div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="133"></div>



While the Habs added Christian Dvorak, Mike Hoffman and David Savard to replace the players that they had lost, it wasn’t enough to stop the implosion. Under two months into the season, Montreal owned a putrid 6-15-2 record and opted to fire GM Marc Bergevin, while making sweeping changes to its front office. 



<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=daily+faceoff+habs+hire+gorton&amp;oq=daily+faceoff+habs+hire+gorton&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160l2.3863j0j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">Jeff Gorton was brought in to be Montreal’s new Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations</a> and Gorton then hired long-time player agent Kent Hughes to be the team’s general manager. 



From here, Gorton and Hughes’ job will be taking the Habs through a full-on rebuild, selling off players who are currently on the roster and stocking up the organization’s cupboards through the draft. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="884" height="586" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-69208" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM.png 884w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM-300x199.png 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM-768x509.png 768w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM-150x99.png 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM-600x398.png 600w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-25-at-9.49.23-AM-696x461.png 696w" sizes="(max-width: 884px) 100vw, 884px"></a></figure>



Players to Watch



Save for a few young players such as Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, it’s difficult to find anybody on the Canadiens who would be off the table as they move into a rebuilding phase. <div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="157"></div>



Montreal has a handful of impending free agents who will almost certainly be moved ahead of the trade deadline. 



<a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/seravalli-20-trade-targets-in-play-as-market-heats-up/">Ben Chiarot was ranked No. 2 on Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets list</a> earlier in January and is one of the best rental defensemen available this year. Chiarot was a rock for the Habs during their playoff run last spring, logging an average of 23:20 per game. 



Other rental names to watch are Brett Kulak, Chris Wideman, Cedric Paquette and Mathieu Perreault. While none of them move the needle quite as much as Chariot and won’t net as much of a return, they’re all quality veterans who can provide value to teams looking to go on playoff runs. 



The interesting thing to watch with Montreal over the next couple of months will be which non-rental players they decide to move. <div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="142"></div>



Of the players Montreal has signed beyond this season, Tyler Toffoli would likely be their most attractive trade chip. Toffoli is signed to a very reasonable contract worth $4.25 million annually for two more seasons. Toffoli has 35 goals and 65 points over 82 career games in Montreal. 



Otherwise, a good chunk of Montreal’s roster would be sell-low situations. Jeff Petry received Norris Trophy votes last year but has struggled with only five points in 34 games this season. Josh Anderson has only 14 points in 30 games, Mike Hoffman has 12 points in 26 games and Brendan Gallagher has 10 points in 25 games. The play here might be to wait for these players to pump up their value again before moving them. 



Finally, there’s Carey Price, the star goaltender that led the Habs to the Cup Final last year. Price hasn’t played this season because <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/montreal-canadiens-goaltender-carey-price-opens-up-on-substance-use-battles/">he’s in the NHLPA’s Player Assistance Program</a>. There hasn’t been any word on when he may potentially return. <div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="168"></div>



Price is 34 and has four years left on his contract, worth $10.5 million annually. Though there’s a risk attached to trading for Price, everyone saw what he did in the playoffs and the Habs might be able to net a decent return from a desperate team if they retain half of his salary. 



Previously…



<a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/trade-deadline-preview-arizona-coyotes/">Trade Deadline Preview: Arizona Coyotes</a>