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BROSSARD, Quebec It would be easy to look at the flurry of trade activity across the NHL this week and think the Montreal Canadiens missed the boat, missed their opportunity to make the improvements they need to make to solidify their status as Stanley Cup contenders.
It wouldnt even necessarily be wrong.
Advertisement But when you take a closer look at those trades, it would be just as easy to see the Canadiens didnt necessarily miss out on anything.
Because making a trade for the sake of it is not the goal.
It is making a trade for a specific type of player that fits what the Canadiens need, and doing so at a price that would make some degree of sense.
I dont think its a great way to go about it and just be reactive; the other teams are doing some things so its our turn, Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said.
Were going to make calculated decisions on things were doing and hopefully youve seen that in the past since weve been here, and were going to continue doing that.
Would we like to improve our team? Yes.
Are we active, calling everybody, talking, looking at different situations? Yes.
But honestly, we dont feel the pressure from anywhere else to do anything that doesnt fit into what we want to do.
Gorton noted how there are more buyers than sellers, a reality that has existed ever since the Canadiens made the playoffs last year.
When there are more buyers than sellers, prices increase.
And when players with full no-movement clauses ask to be traded, such as Brady Tkachuk and Dylan Larkin, supply becomes limited to a team such as the Canadiens.
Would Tkachuk have made the Canadiens better? Undoubtedly.
Were the Canadiens one of the teams Tkachuk would have accepted to be traded to? Absolutely not.
And even if they were, did the Canadiens have a No.
9 overall pick to build a package around? No, they did not.
Does Jordan Kyrou, a player the Canadiens had shown interest in previously, fill a need for them? As a legitimate top-six scoring winger, yes.
As an average-sized winger with lots of skill who is not exactly hard to play against, however, Kyrou would not be the ideal person to address that need, and at the price the Washington Capitals paid to get him the No.
16 overall pick in the draft Friday night, Connor McMichael and a pretty decent prospect in Milton Gastrin even less so.
Advertisement The Canadiens widely reported interest in Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies at the trade deadline is indicative of the type of player they are more interested in acquiring to round out their top six on the wing, a heavier type of scorer with some physicality.
Someone such as, say, Alex Tuch, but is he, at age 30, worth the $10.5 million a year for eight years the Capitals gave him after acquiring his rights from the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick in 2027 and the rights to David Kampf? No, he is not.
Or someone such as Valeri Nichushkin, who was moved Thursday from the Colorado Avalanche to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the relatively modest cost of second, third and fifth-round draft picks.
But Nichushkin played more than 57 games for just the third time in the last eight years this season, is 31 years old and has four years left on a contract with an AAV of $6.125 million a year.
There is a risk profile attached to Nichushkin that makes the acquisition cost more prohibitive than it may appear.
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes likes to say he is willing to overpay to get the right player, but even that has its limits.
I think that weve done a pretty good job of accumulating some assets and whatnot, Gorton said.
So it puts us in a position to be in conversations and I think thats more what hes talking about as opposed to Ill overpay.
The draft begins Friday at 7 pm ET, a trade deadline of sorts for any deals that include a first-round draft pick.
The Canadiens have the No.
28 pick, and if they are involved in any discussions that include that pick, Gorton seemed to be sending out a message that the Canadiens would be perfectly comfortable making the pick.
I would say, as of right now, there is a pretty good chance well be picking at 28, Gorton said.
Advertisement He said something very similar a year ago, when Gorton met the media the day before the draft and said, At 16 and 17, I think wed be happy with that.
Gorton was referring to the Nos.
16 and 17 overall picks the Canadiens had that day, the two picks they traded away 24 hours later in the deal that brought in defenceman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders.
And so, everything Gorton said Thursday must be taken with a grain of salt, and four words in particular must be given added weight: as of right now.
Last year at this time, I think the day before the draft when I spoke to everybody, honestly with everything that happened with Noah, it started really happening after that, Gorton acknowledged Thursday.
So its hard to say.
I think its going to pick up.
As soon as I leave this room, it probably gets even more exciting.
So I dont know.
I wouldnt want to make any promises.
Yes, we want to get better.
Yes, we have some things in mind we want to do, but will they happen? I dont know.
I think making a promise, especially in front of you guys, is probably not a good idea for me.
That is the context for everything Gorton said Thursday, and what he says every year on this day, because he has a talent for answering questions without giving away compromising information.
But the Canadiens have a talented prospect pool, with a few players who could step right into the NHL for the right team and some longer-term projects with high ceilings.
There is demand for those players, Gorton said.
We know that teams think we have a lot of good players from our conversations, he said.
So yeah, people can sense that we have good defencemen and have good young prospects.
And certainly our phone rings, which is always a good thing.
But what he didnt say is that there will still be demand for those players a year from now because of how young they are, assuming they dont take a step back this season.
And there is only a finite amount of them for the Canadiens to use in trades, and if one or more of them are used in the wrong trade, it weakens the Canadiens ability to use them if the right trade comes up down the road, whether thats at the end of training camp, during next season, at the next trade deadline or even next offseason if need be.
Advertisement That is a difficult consideration to make when your fan base is energized by a deep playoff run and expects to take another step, or when you see the Florida Panthers loading up by adding Tkachuk and you know you will need to get through the Panthers to escape the Atlantic Division in the playoffs.
Were certainly looking at it and understanding that our division is really good, Gorton said.
Theres a lot of teams in there at the same time (that) were rebuilding, theres a lot of teams that have been good for a long time.
So we know that our division is difficult.
We just came through a season with 106 points coming out of there.
But as far as if a team makes a move in our division, are you asking, is that drawing us to do something because they did? Its not necessarily why were going to do it, but we understand what theyre doing.
Were following it, and well go from there.
But I dont think its necessarily the greatest decision that we would see another team do something and just react to it.
Just as it would be easy to see the flurry of trade activity as the Canadiens sit idle as a missed opportunity, it would be just as easy to read Gortons stance on their lack of reactiveness and lack of willingness to pay overly exorbitant prices in a sellers market as an excellent example of covering your bases.
If the Canadiens do nothing, Gorton has warned you of that possibility.
If they do something as they did 24 hours after Gorton spoke prior to last years draft then everyones happy and wont care what Gorton said a day earlier.
Its a win-win.
But Gorton did make it clear there is a desire on the Canadiens part to be active, and if there is one thing we have learned about this administration under his watch, it is that they often act on that desire, and they often do so without giving any hint whatsoever that it is coming.
Thats a good cliffhanger, Gorton said when asked what the ideal outcome would be for this weekend.
Thats probably a good place to leave it.
The answer I dont have for you, I wish I did.
But if I had it, I dont think I could give it to you either.