Welcome back to another edition of NHL Rumors from the crew at Last Word On Hockey. We’re quickly approaching the NHL Entry Draft and free agency and with that the rumours around the NHL are running rampant. In this particular segment, we’ll focus on a rumour from The Fourth Period which surrounds the availability of a couple of Habs veterans.
NHL Rumours: Canadiens Opening to Trading Multiple Forwards
According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Habs are open to moving both Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak.
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+ more https://t.co/PS5cEgJurD— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) June 26, 2024
This honestly shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for anyone in the hockey world. Both of these players are entering the final year of their contracts. Holding on to them and letting them walk is less than ideal. They also carry a combined cap hit of $7.85 million. Removing that number from the books would be extremely useful to help the Habs improve their offence this season.
Making Cap Space An Area of Interest for Kent Hughes
While Pagnotta doesn’t specify the type of return the Habs are looking for for either player, you can’t expect it to be very high. Dvorak is coming off an injury-plagued season where he only appeared in 30 games and scored just five goals and nine points. At 28 and a career-high point total of just 38 points, it’s hard to imagine the Habs getting anything more than a mid-round pick for his service. Especially when you consider his $4.45 million cap hit.
Armia is in a bit of a different boat. He’s an extremely effective defensive player and penalty-kill specialist. He’s also coming off a season where he set a new career high in goals with 17. Armia has the ability to find the back of the net, but not consistently. His $3.34 million cap hit isn’t something many teams are going to be jumping to take on. The Canadiens are also handcuffed to an extent as they only have the option to retain salary on one more player this season as Jeff Petry and Jake Allen are still on the books. This will make it difficult to move both players.
At the end of the day, neither of these players is going to be easy to move. And if they are, the return isn’t going to be substantial in terms of assets. Where it is going to help, is opening avenues for the Canadiens to spend money on some much-needed offence.
Expect Movement this Offseason
The Canadiens have been rumoured to be in on multiple names this offseason. Kent Hughes is looking to take the next step in the Canadiens rebuild and start playing some meaningful games in March and April this season. In order to do that they need to improve on their 26th ranked offence from last season. Names like Nikolaj Ehlers, Martin Necas, Patrik Laine and Trevor Zegras are rumoured to be on the move this offseason. There are also some intriguing names hitting free agency on July 1st. Ridding themselves of the Armia and Dvorak contract will greatly increase their chances of being able to make a big swing this offseason. It’s something we should certainly keep an eye on.
