3 Montreal Canadiens Trade Assets

The Montreal Canadiens will be re-tooling on the fly this season as general manager Kent Hughes is avoiding a rebuild but wants to upgrade his roster as soon as possible. The Canadiens have their core in tact with a few tweaks to their roster could find themselves back into contention in the Eastern Conference. Here's three Canadiens who will be dangled before the March 3 trade deadline:

Sean Monahan

The Canadiens were fine with the return from Calgary when they acquired Monahan and now after a solid start to the 2022-23 season, their looking to flip the veteran center for some more pieces. Monahan is a pending free agent who has appeared in 25 games this season in Montreal, registering 17 points. Once he gets healthy, look for the trade talk to pick back up as the Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals are expected to have interest.

Joel Edmundson

The defensive defenseman could fetch a hefty return as the blue line market is thin this season. With another year on his contract as well, this trade would likely include at least a second-round pick going back to Montreal. Edmundson is owed $3.5 million this season and next, and holds a no-trade clause against 10 teams of his choice. So far in 21 games he's chipped in with three points and gets paid to block shots, make hits and kill penalties.

Christian Dvorak

Jonathan Drouin, Mike Hoffman and Josh Anderson could all likely be listed here, however the Canadiens would love to get Christian Dvorak off their books. He's signed through the 2024-25 season at $4.45 million annually and Montreal would like to move him before his no-trade protection kicks in next July. In 31 games this season for the Habs, Dvorak only has 13 points. Not the greatest return on investment and he'd likely have to be packaged with a sweetener to get a team to bite on the trade market.

Photo credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports