2 Canadiens Defensemen Will Be Gone By End Of Next Season

Arber Xhekaj & Jayden Struble, Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens continue to churn out or acquire good NHL defensemen, and in a system that does that, the team has to eventually part with some.

The offense has been coming together for the Canadiens, and the goaltending looks solid now and for the future, but at forward is where the team must once again look to potentially swap out a defender to get better.

The Canadiens have Mike Matheson, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, and Kaiden Guhle all signed through 2031. That feels like their core on defense. Alexandre Carrier has played every game this season and is skating just under 20 minutes per game, and is signed until the end of next season. But where it gets interesting is the similar games and usage of Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble. One hasn't sat for very long, but Xhakej has 45 games averaging 11:37 per game and Struble has 37 games averaging 14:15. It seems inevitable that the Canadiens will have to make a choice there.

Struble is signed for one more year, while Xhekaj is a RFA after this season. This shouldn't really impact who is moved or not. But, sooner than later, David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom are going to push into the NHL. They are 21 years old and 22 years old respectively and are both waiver exempt right now, but once that is over, teams may be looking at them if they're placed on waivers or aren't in the NHL yet.

Among Carrier, Struble, Xhekaj, Reinbacker, and Engstrom, it is very realistic that two of them are either going to be traded or walk in free agency by the end of 2027, it's just a matter of who. The Canadiens would be wise to use at least one of them as trade bait this season. Montreal is a good team that's been dealing with a lot of injuries this season, especially at center, and are right in the race for the top of the East.