Breaking News: Carolina Hurricane Confirm the departure another experience Star as he…

Montreal Canadiens fans were likely unhappy with the article Arpon Basu released on The Athletic Tuesday morning. The hope amongst the fans was that a trade was coming for the Canadiens to acquire either Martin Necas or Trevor Zegras. However, Basu reveals that it could be another offseason of wait-and-see instead of the big splashes we were looking forward to. Basu pointed to last season’s scenario that played out with Pierre-Luc Dubois as a possible blueprint for this year’s plans. Basu’s article is worth a read for subscribers who haven’t viewed it yet, as he also touches on the Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle contract extensions.

 

For this piece, we’ll look at the belief that the Canadiens won’t be acquiring Zegras or Necas. Elliotte Friedman recently reported that the Hurricanes want a star-level player for Necas. Basu contemplates that Mike Matheson could get the deal done, but it’d be impossible for the Canadiens to replace his 20+ minutes per night and special teams play. My Sorting Out The Montreal Canadiens Blue Line piece said that I’d move Matheson to make room for some of the young defensemen, due to Matheson’s declining play last season. A trade of Matheson wouldn’t be a dealbreaker to acquiring top-forward talent for me, but I don’t necessarily feel like Necas and Zegras are the answers