Kent Hughes has made a habit of squeezing value out of every move during the Montreal Canadiens’ rebuild, but the Sean Monahan sequence stands out as one of his cleanest wins.
It started in August 2022, when Montreal took Monahan and a conditional 2025 first-round pick from the Calgary Flames in exchange for future considerations. Calgary needed to clear Monahan’s $6.375 million cap hit after two injury-hit, disappointing seasons. Montreal had the room, the patience, and the freedom to take the swing.
The beauty of the deal was the downside protection. If Monahan never got back on track, the Canadiens still walked away with a first-round pick just for taking on the contract.
If he did rebound, they would have options. Hughes ended up cashing in either way.
That conditional first-rounder later became part of the package that brought Noah Dobson to Montreal. The Canadiens sent Calgary’s first-round pick, their own first-round selection, and Emil Heineman to the New York Islanders to land the right-shot defenseman, giving their blue line a major boost for years to come. A contract dump had turned into a path toward a legitimate top-pair defenseman.
Monahan also gave Montreal useful hockey while he was there. Injuries limited him to 25 games in 2022-23, but he still put up 17 points and played responsible two-way hockey. He also showed flashes of the player who had once scored more than 30 goals and topped 80 points.
He carried that into the next season. By the 2024 trade deadline, Monahan had 35 points in 49 games and was centering one of Montreal’s most dependable lines. He brought veteran steadiness to the room and helped anchor a young forward group.
But the Canadiens were still rebuilding, and Monahan was headed for unrestricted free agency. That made him a prime rental center, and Hughes chose the long view.
At the 2024 trade deadline, Montreal sent Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2024 first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick. The third only would have come if Winnipeg won the Stanley Cup, and that never happened, so the Canadiens got the first-rounder alone.
Even that was enough to keep the chain going. Montreal later used the pick in a move up the board at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft and selected Michael Hage, who has already become one of the organization’s top prospects and looks like a key piece of the future.
So one move brought in a pick, another trade turned that pick into Dobson, and another into Hage. That is the kind of asset management rebuilding teams dream about, and Hughes pulled it off with one player.
The one possible knock comes after Monahan left. He signed a five-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets at $5.5 million per year, and he has continued to look like a reliable top-six center who can handle every situation.
With Montreal still searching for a long-term second-line center, it is fair to ask what might have happened if Hughes had found a way to keep Monahan before moving him, or brought him back in free agency.
A healthy Monahan could have fit neatly behind Nick Suzuki and given the younger centers more time to grow. Even so, that doesn’t erase the bigger picture. The Monahan sequence remains one of the best examples of elite asset management in recent NHL history, and it fits Hughes’ patient, calculated approach to the Canadiens’ rebuild.
In Other News...
Canadiens Face A Real Xhekaj Decision In New Trade Proposal
Arber Xhekaj keeps lingering in the center of Montreals offseason conversation, and the latest trade idea only adds another layer to it. Calgarys interest in the young Canadiens defenseman has been floating around for months, and the discussion has resurfaced again as Montreal continues sorting out its blue line and weighing what kind of move would actually make sense for the roster it wants to build.
The appeal from the Canadiens side is straightforward enough: they have been looking for a right-handed defenseman who can handle meaningful minutes, and the proposal being kicked around would address that need while forcing Montreal to decide how much value it is willing to attach to Xhekaj. Depending on how the deal is structured, the price could climb beyond a simple one-for-one swap, which is exactly why this has become one of those talks worth watching rather than dismissing. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have A Real Shot At The Young Center They Need
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Fantilli, 21, turned in a strong season with 59 points in 82 games, enough to make him the kind of center any team would at least have to think about. Montreal has not been confirmed as a club preparing an offer sheet, but the possibility alone is enough to keep the idea alive, especially if Columbus finds itself in a spot where matching becomes difficult. [Read more 🡒]
NHL Expansion Buzz Just Put The Nordiques Dream In Jeopardy
The NHL expansion conversation has started to sharpen, and for Canadiens fans with one eye on the old Nordiques rivalry, the latest chatter is not exactly encouraging. Doug McLean and other hockey voices have been pointing toward Houston as the next city in line for an expansion franchise, with Austin also being mentioned in the mix before quickly fading from view.
For Montreal followers, the significance goes beyond another market on the league map. If Houston is indeed the destination, it would make the long-discussed idea of the Nordiques coming back look even more remote, even if the NHL has not made anything official yet. For now, it is still just buzz, but it is the kind of buzz that can change how people talk about hockey in Quebec. [Read more 🡒]