Looking at the Canadiens’ present forwards, we can’t claim that the club’s management will be able to break everything on the transaction market in the run-up to March 8.
If you want to push the envelope, Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Heineman, and Ylönen aren’t worth dealing. Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, and Armia will not be traded, according to Eric Engels. Evans and Pezzetta are not untouchable, but their best value, in my opinion, is in Montreal.
Stephens must be valued next to nothing, and the injured players (Dach, Pearson, Newhook, and Harvey-Pinard) should not be dealt. Pearson could be… But would you go after him if you were a good club?
That leaves Sean Monahan. He’s the only forward (I say forward, because David Savard is a big blue-line candidate) who can really bring something back and is likely to leave.
We’ll see how things develop between now and March 8.
More and more, some people are talking about trading him, while others are talking about keeping him and signing him to a contract extension. Barring a crazy offer from another team, I’m among those who want to keep Monahan.
And since the player seems to like it here in town, the idea makes sense.
I’m the first to worry what happens if Monahan wants to stay but can’t agree on the fundamentals of a new contract before the deadline.
To put it another way, should we keep him at any costs? And I mean that in the sense of “at all costs,” not the price to be paid.
You’ll tell me that he chose to return to Montreal last year rather than test the market. Even if that’s true, and even if I’m the first to admit that it’s undoubtedly because he enjoys playing for the Montreal Canadiens, I can understand how it’s due to a lack of a market.
When you sign at a (significant) discount ten days before the end of the fiscal year your contract, you know that other teams are afraid of your health.
In 2024, he’ll have the chance to sign a bigger contract. If the Habs keep him past March 8 without signing him, he could well leave as a free agent if Kent Hughes doesn’t give him what he needs.
Let’s face it: that’s not good asset management.
That’s why I’d like to see the GM begin negotiations with Monahan right away. In this manner, the club will know where it stands in two months and will be able to determine what to do.
Because if the Habs are going to lose him this summer, they might as well lose him in the spring for something else.
With gusto
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