With opening night only days away, Montreal is starting to sound like a team with one more move in mind. Darren Dreger added to that feeling on the Ray & Dregs podcast, saying he wasn’t promising anything but that a trade before game one remains possible. His read was simple enough: “It really feels, Ray, like Kent Hughes has something up his sleeve.”
That idea fits the way the Canadiens have been hunting for help. The target has been a top-six forward, with a second-line center at the top of the wish list. Columbus has kept surfacing in the conversation, and while Kirill Marchenko does not play center, he checks plenty of other boxes as a scorer and offensive driver.
Montreal’s cap situation is part of what makes this interesting. As Ray Ferraro noted, a lot of the young core was locked into long-term contracts before the cap ceiling was announced, which gives Hughes more flexibility than a lot of clubs have right now.
That opens the door for him to take on money other teams might have to avoid. The Canadiens are also just beginning what looks like a multi-year window to win, which is why Marchenko, even as a rental, makes sense as a name to watch.
The sticking point is the price. One report says Hughes would not include Michael Hage in any deal, no matter how tempting the offer becomes. If that holds, Montreal would have to build the package around other young assets and draft picks.
Columbus, meanwhile, has not exactly made life easy for teams asking about Marchenko. In July, GM Don Waddell said outright that he would not be traded.
More recently, he has acknowledged that teams have called and made clear that any move has to help the Blue Jackets. He wants a good player back.
So what exactly would Montreal be getting? Marchenko is 26, stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 200 pounds.
He put up 67 points in 76 games last season, and he brings the kind of right-shot scoring and size that can change the look of a top six. His $3.85 million cap hit is a major part of the appeal, especially if he were to line up next to Ivan Demidov without squeezing the Canadiens financially.
The problem comes later. The cost would not stop at the trade package, because Marchenko’s next contract would almost certainly get expensive. That could create tension with the internal cap Montreal has set for itself, especially after already giving up a meaningful piece of the present roster.
Still, the pressure on Columbus is growing. Trading Marchenko while he is still under contract could be the prudent move, and Montreal is far from the only team likely to check in.
In Other News...
Canadiens Sent David Reinbacher Down For A Bigger Reason
David Reinbachers latest assignment to Laval says more about the Canadiens roster picture than it does about his play. Montreals decision was not a reflection of how he performed, but a sign of how the club wants to manage a young defenseman who is still best served by getting major minutes rather than sitting in a limited role on the NHL bench.
The timing matters, too, because the Canadiens are getting healthier on the blue line. With Kaiden Guhle edging closer to a return, the immediate need for an extra defenseman has eased, leaving Montreal with a choice that favors development over depth. For now, Reinbacher stays where the games can give him more responsibility, even if the path back up becomes clearer again soon. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Make A Tough Early Call On David Reinbacher
The Canadiens final roster cuts brought a notable early-season decision on David Reinbacher, who will start the year with the Laval Rocket in the AHL. The former fifth-overall pick had a strong preseason, but Montreal is clearly taking the long view with a young defenseman whose development has already been shaped by injury history and a crowded battle for minutes on the blue line.
For now, Reinbacher should get the kind of heavy workload in Laval that can be harder to guarantee in Montreal, where the club had to balance roster spots, waiver concerns and its depth chart on defense. The door to the NHL is hardly closed, though, and if he keeps building through the season, the Canadiens are leaving themselves plenty of room to bring him back up when the timing makes sense. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Trade Interest Just Raised The Stakes For Kent Hughes
The Canadiens spent part of the summer exploring a bigger swing, with Frank Seravalli reporting that management had considered packaging Kirby Dach in a larger deal if it meant bringing immediate help back the other way. It was the kind of roster-thinking that makes sense for a team trying to accelerate its timeline, and it also showed how aggressively Kent Hughes has been willing to survey the market when there is a chance to reshape the lineup.
Montreal had Kirill Marchenko in mind as a possible target before he was moved to Toronto, which forced the Canadiens to keep searching for another path. The Edmonton Oilers also showed interest in Dach, but Hughes appears to be holding out for a more significant trade opening, leaving the next move tied to whether a better fit comes available. [Read more 🡒]