Two defensemen have unexpectedly landed on waivers, giving the Canadiens a chance to take a look without giving up any assets.
Carson Soucy, now with Columbus, and Cameron Crotty, with Ottawa, are both available at no acquisition cost. Soucy is the more intriguing name for Montreal, particularly if Mike Matheson ends up missing more time after he sat out today’s practice to receive treatment.
Soucy is 32 and checks a lot of boxes for a team looking for a left-shot defender. He stands 6-foot-5, weighs 207 pounds, and was a fifth-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in the 2013 NHL Draft. In 448 NHL games, he has 100 points, including 32 goals, and 286 penalty minutes.
This season, he has one assist in seven games for Columbus and carries a minus-5 rating. He has also spent time with Seattle, Vancouver, the Rangers, and the Islanders.
Crotty is the other option, but he profiles as the lesser draw. The 27-year-old Ottawa native is a right-shot defenseman, listed at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, and was taken in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft. In the NHL, he has one assist in 11 games, including three appearances this season with a plus-1 rating.
He looks more like a sixth-defenseman type, the kind of player who could add depth on the right side of the blue line.
Soucy offers much more NHL mileage and a heavier style of play. Even so, teams below the Canadiens in the standings would get first crack at any claim.
In Other News...
Cole Caufield Sees Something Building Canadiens Fans Will Love
Cole Caufield has been around long enough now to know the difference between playing in a hockey market and playing in Montreal. The Canadiens winger talked about what it means to perform in front of the Bell Centre crowd, where the energy rises quickly and the expectation rises with it, and he pointed back to the lessons from the clubs recent playoff run as part of the learning curve for a young group trying to move from promise to results.
Caufields optimism comes from more than just what happened last spring. He sees a core that is in place and a room that keeps challenging itself every day, which is exactly the kind of internal push the Canadiens have been searching for as they try to build something lasting. For a fan base that has stayed loud through the lean years, the appeal is obvious: Caufield believes the motivation is there, and the goal is to turn all that noise into a team worth cheering for deep into the spring. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Just Sparked A Trade Question Fans Wont Ignore
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The added intrigue comes from the seats rather than the bench, where Red Wings executive Kris Draper was in attendance and helped stir up the usual trade chatter that follows a prospect with a growing profile. There has been no confirmation of any talks or of what Detroit was specifically there to evaluate, but with Engstrom back in the mix and outside interest hovering, this is the kind of situation Canadiens fans will keep watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Just Did Something Impressive Without Suzuki And Demidov
The Canadiens kept rolling on the road with a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Blues, extending their streak away from home even while missing injured regulars Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov. Montreal got the kind of composed, structured effort teams usually need to survive a gap in the lineup, with rookie goaltending and timely finishing carrying the night in a game that looked anything but ordinary.
Zachary Bolduc scored against his former team, giving the Canadiens a goal with a little extra edge, and the result only sharpened the sense that this group is finding ways to win in different forms. The larger question now is whether Montreal can keep that same standard if the injury picture doesn't clear up soon, because the latest victory came with one more reminder that the margin for error remains thin. [Read more 🡒]