Montreal Canadiens fans waiting for a splash this offseason may have to keep waiting.
More than two months after the Canadiens were knocked out by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final, the market has stayed quiet around Kent Hughes and his front office. Montreal has not made a meaningful push in the trade or free-agent arena, and there’s a real chance that changes before opening night.
That doesn’t mean Hughes has been idle. The Canadiens traded Brendan Gallagher, but that move was about clearing out a winger who had become surplus to requirements, not about upgrading the roster. Montreal also locked up Ivan Demidov and Jakub Dobes, which helps the long-term picture, but those extensions don’t bring in immediate help for a team trying to get better right now.
The problem is simple: the Canadiens are shopping for proven talent, but their own trade chips don’t line up neatly with what contenders want.
Names like Matthew Knies and Kirill Marchenko would clearly fit what Montreal is looking for, but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets are not operating like rebuilding clubs. They want to win now, too, which means they aren’t moving key players for a pile of futures. If the Canadiens want to land someone of that caliber, they need to put roster talent on the table - and that talent has to matter.
Kirby Dach and Jayden Struble or Arber Xhekaj are not enough to bring back a real top-six player. Zachary Bolduc doesn’t move the needle either if the other side doesn’t value him the same way Montreal did when it sent Logan Mailloux to the St.
Louis Blues to get him. There’s a difference between taking a swing on a young player who hasn’t taken off yet and prying away someone who is already producing and playing a major role.
That’s where Montreal’s stance becomes clear. The Canadiens are past the stage of hoping a player will simply fit.
They know what they need, and they want players who can help right away. But they also are not interested in weakening themselves just to make a deal happen.
Trading a core piece of equal value, such as Juraj Slafkovsky for Marchenko, would defeat the purpose.
For a player like Marchenko, a three-way trade is the one realistic path. Montreal could send assets to another team, that team could send a roster player to Columbus, and then the Blue Jackets could ship Marchenko to the Canadiens. But those kinds of deals are hard to pull off, and there aren’t many rebuilding teams willing to part with a player good enough to tempt Don Waddell.
If Hughes can’t engineer that sort of move, then patience becomes the plan. Columbus could always stumble badly this season, and if that happens, Zach Werenski could alter the picture by wanting out.
He has a full no-move clause now, so he controls where he would go, but if Columbus waits until the 2027-28 season, he would only have a 10-team no-trade list. That would give Waddell a wider field of possible destinations, though Werenski would still need to agree to a sign-and-trade with his next team to maximize the return.
No club is handing over a massive package for only part of a season of Werenski.
Columbus is the example here because Marchenko has been a hot topic all summer, but the larger point applies across the board. If the Canadiens won’t part with core pieces, it’s going to be hard to pull a big-name player away from a team that still sees itself as a playoff club.
In Other News...
Canadiens Blue Line Logjam Just Cost Them Another Young Defenseman
The Canadiens defensive depth has become one of the more persistent talking points around the organization, and William Trudeaus latest move is another sign of how crowded that lane has become. After several seasons with the Laval Rocket and only limited NHL opportunities in Montreal, the former Canadiens defenseman has moved on to the New York Rangers organization, where he sees a clearer path to the league.
Trudeau said the depth chart in Montreal was part of the equation, even as he spoke respectfully about his time with both the Canadiens and Laval. For a young blue-liner trying to turn steady development into an NHL look, the appeal of a fresh start is obvious, and his departure adds one more name to the list of prospects who found the road blocked before it ever really opened. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Face A Big Bolduc Decision Next To Suzuki And Caufield
Zachary Bolducs first season with the Canadiens offered both encouragement and frustration, which is usually how these things go when a player is trying to establish himself in Montreal. Acquired from the St. Louis Blues, he opened fast enough to make people notice, then settled into a more uneven stretch as the year wore on, with his production cooling off and his role shrinking at times.
Still, Bolducs playoff play gave the Canadiens something to think about going into next season, especially with the possibility of him being asked to skate in a far more prominent spot alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. For a team looking to sort out the best version of its top end, his progress in the spring matters almost as much as the uneven regular season that came before it. [Read more 🡒]
Kent Hughes May Be Ending The Canadiens Quiet Summer Soon
The Canadiens have spent much of late summer in a holding pattern, but that quiet stretch may be nearing an end. Montreal is expected to make at least one official announcement soon, and the buzz around the team has centered on Kent Hughes possibly closing the book on a relatively uneventful offseason with a late move or roster update.
The exact nature of the news remains unclear, with no confirmations yet from the club. Still, sources indicate something could break early in the week, giving Canadiens fans a fresh point of attention before the calendar turns fully toward the next phase of team business. [Read more 🡒]