Historically, few substantial trades are completed so quickly in the NHL schedule. Difficult to find a partner to dance in November not only because of financial considerations, but also because only a slim majority of teams have already made peace with their exclusion from the playoffs.
Never mind, our collaborator Pierre LeBrun assured us last week that Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes wants to help his club emerge from its torpor by scrutinizing the trade market.
If the Habs want to partially remedy their problems making them the second worst team for goal differential (-16 after 12 games), the idea of adding to the defense is far from absurd.
At varying degrees of feasibility, here are five options that at the very least deserve to be explored by the Montreal headquarters.
***
Cam Fowler – 32 ans – Ducks d’Anaheim
Annual salary: $6.5 million
Contractual status: Free agent with compensation after the 2025-2026 season
It’s a poorly kept secret that Fowler’s agent and general manager Pat Verbeek have been in close communication for several months to identify a potential destination for the veteran of nearly 1,000 games in the NHL.
Anaheim’s start to the season confirms that this inexperienced team isn’t going anywhere for at least another year, and that keeping Fowler in a top-4 role will only take away minutes that could help several of his young teammates gain ground, whether it is Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Jackson LaCombe or Tristan Luneau, for example.
The price to pay in November for a back of the caliber of the 32-year-old Canadian, given the element of stability he brings? Most likely a first round pick or a prospect who already shows the potential to play an important role in the NHL.
Undoubtedly, Verbeek would get more for Fowler’s services by waiting until the trade deadline, although he is in the seventh year of an eight-year contract, not the last. In this sense, buyers fearing that their hands will be tied next year will be more cautious.
As for the CH, we must ask ourselves the following question: does Kent Hughes see Fowler as a viable option to not only help the club in the short term, but also maintain a high enough level to perform when the strong core is ready to make a move? big step towards midshipman status?
Bowen Byram – 23 ans – Sabres de Buffalo
Annual salary: $3.85 million
Contractual status: Free agent with compensation after the 2024-2025 season
The hockey world’s initial reaction when the Sabers agreed to trade Casey Mittelstadt to get Byram from the Colorado Avanche last spring was that it was a win-win trade.
It is early to draw definitive conclusions, but let’s say that to date, it is mainly in Colorado that we can observe the merits of this transaction, while Mittelstadt is well on the way to cementing his place as second center of the Avalanche behind Nathan MacKinnon.
Where does Byram fit into the picture in Buffalo? It’s a little more nebulous. The potential to reach the rank of complete defenseman in the NHL, the same one that made him the 4e player selected in 2019 – is not completely gone. Some nights more than others, he stands out in a tangible way through the quality of his recovery, his ability to offer himself as an option in opposing territory and an ability to distribute his share of hits.
Other nights, Byram is more discreet and we wonder what the 23-year-old left-hander really brings to the defensive brigade that the Sabers don’t already have in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.
From what we hear, GM Kevyn Adams didn’t really take the time to consider a trade involving Byram, eight months after acquiring him. But his counterparts inquire about his availability, seeing that after a dozen matches, Lindy Ruff has not been able to extract the best from his game, and that a contract negotiation is looming on the horizon.
Simon Nemec – 20 years old – New Jersey Devils
Annual salary: $918,333
Contractual status: Free agent without compensation after the 2025-2026 season
If the Sabers tell themselves that they had better not blunder by giving up too quickly in the Byram file, the same refrain (at exponent 10) applies to Nemec with the Devils.
Hard to ignore, however, the fact that Nemec has been confined since the returns of Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce to the No. 7 defense role, while New Jersey finds itself for the first time with a perfectly healthy blue line. From a leading role as a rookie last year, Nemec finds himself not having played since October 22.
It will probably take a sequence of poorer performances from Jonas Siegenthaler or the surprising Jonhattan Kovacevic to bring the young Slovakian back into the squad in a regular place.
Far from being an ideal scenario for its development, and the Montreal staff must explore this avenue, as narrow as it may be.
What are the chances that Hughes and Tom Fitzgerald will find common ground in the short term? And above all, does the CH have the necessary ammunition to hope to pique the curiosity of the Devils? It is within their group of attackers that the need is more obvious, knowing that for several games, it is Ondrej Palat who plays on the left of the first trio.
Fitzgerald is not fooled: he saw the 2023-2024 version of Nemec demonstrate here and there a potential worthy of, at least, a first pairing back. But can his often-repeated desire to see the Devils win immediately, combined (to a lesser extent) with the progression displayed by Seamus Casey, serve at the very least as an argument to listen to offers concerning Nemec?
Whether it’s plausible or not, a certain No. 20 in Montreal would like nothing better than to find a compatriot and close friend on his team for years to come.
Damon Severson – 30 ans – Blue Jackets de Columbus
Annual salary: $6.25 million
Contractual status: Free agent without compensation after the 2030-2031 season
If the addition of Byram or Nemec is above all part of a long-term perspective, it is also not far-fetched to believe that the CH could opt for a solution, let’s say, more instantaneous.
The Blue Jackets find themselves at the respectable .500 mark after eleven games, but let us not be under any illusions: this team will not be afraid to liquidate a veteran, provided that the price is right, and that the transaction fits logically into the plan developed by Don Wadell.
A right-hander who turned 30 last August, Severson averages nearly 21:30 per game on the Columbus blue line, and has found himself on the scoresheet with regularity thus far, as evidenced by his 3 goals. and 3 assists.
Assuming that it is on the right side that Kent Hughes identifies the greatest danger for the current version of his group of defenders, Severson could prove to be a find worth its weight in gold.
As for the Jackets, agreeing to let go of Severson would imply that they are willing to give more responsibilities to David Jiricek.
William Borgen – 27 ans – Kraken de Seattle
Annual salary: $2.7 million
Contractual status: Free agent without compensation after the 2024-2025 season
When Vince Dunn’s name is removed from the injured list around mid-November, the Kraken could receive a few phone calls regarding the availability of their defensemen.
The injury suffered by Dunn will at least have had the positive consequence of confirming that the young Ryker Evans, used over the last two weeks alongside Adam Larsson and in a variety of roles, is undoubtedly one of the good young backs on the Bettman circuit .
Eligible for complete autonomy in July, Borgen is not the kind of acquisition that would throw ordinary CH supporters out of their seats. If we want to lapse into cynicism, we could even say that such a “weak” statement would fuel the discontent already well established among supporters rather than calming it down.
However, there is a dire need for stability on the right, and it is a position of strength for Seattle, which is banking on Larsson and Brandon Montour.
From the Kraken’s point of view, are we talking about a trade that would be more likely to materialize in February or March than in early November? Absolutely. But Borgen, a strong defenseman who likes to play tough, isn’t off to a great start under Dan Bylsma, so it wouldn’t be the worst of times for Hughes to make a call to his counterpart Ron Francis.
