Most of the discussions regarding potential trades for the Montreal Canadiens have centred on their three goaltenders.
But the Habs have a few different players available, including veteran forward Sean Monahan.
Monahan checks all the boxes for a perfect mid-season acquisition. He’s versatile, which means he provides offence on the power play and defence on the penalty kill. He’s also quite adept at absorbing heavy minutes at 5v5.
His faceoff prowess is well known around the league, as is his skill in transition.
Monahan, 29, has nine goals and 10 assists in 30 games this year, a very reasonable level of production when you consider he plays on the low-scoring Habs and is often tasked with floating players who are struggling from an offensive standpoint.
According to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, Monahan may be one of the players the Leafs will pursue. Fox argues Toronto’s most pressing issue is their questionable defensive group, but they would also like to upgrade its strength down the middle.
“Max Domi has filled in admirably as a third-line pivot, but his trust defensively is iffy,” wrote Fox. “Sense is, the Leafs would prefer a pure pivot and keep Domi as a middle-six utility player. Three rental names to keep in mind: Anaheim’s Adam Henrique, Montreal’s Sean Monahan and Seattle’s Alexander Wennberg. The Ducks and Kraken would a) need to declare themselves sellers and b) retain salary for a hypothetical trade to work.”
The final sentence is the most important part of this particular NHL trade rumour.
While the Anaheim Ducks and the Seattle Kraken have players available, both Wennberg ($4.5M AAV) and Henrique ($5.825M AAV) carry cap hits that would force some financial gymnastics from the Maple Leafs.
As it stands, Toronto only has a little over $600,000 in available cap space.
Monahan, on the other hand, is currently signed to a very reasonable one-year contract that carries an annual average value of $1.95 million, making a potential trade with a cap-strapped team much more feasible.