Montreal Canadiens Must Make A Trade

If the Montreal Canadiens have any hope of turning around their season then they must look to the trade market to find an offensive spark.

The Montreal Canadiens‘ 1-6-1 record currently sits second last in the entire league. If things don’t turn around soon their season could be over by Halloween. The biggest issue plaguing the Canadiens has been their inability to put the puck in the back of the net.

Montreal has scored the fewest goals in the league with only 12 goals in their eight games. That is six fewer goals than the winless Arizona Coyotes and their 0-7-1 record.

Struggling to score is nothing new for the Canadiens but it’s reached the point where enough is enough and it’s time for a change. With just under $8 million in cap space available Montreal needs to make a trade to acquire offensive support. The current roster is not capable of flipping a switch and discovering new ways to score.

With Matt Duchene trade rumors running rampant since the summer, the Colorado Avalanche center would be a great fit with the Canadiens. Duchene, Jonathon Drouin, and Max Pacioretty would form a trio with all three capable of reaching at least 60 points. Most importantly, it would give the team more depth and two quality forward lines.

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Currently, Drouin leads the team with five points in eight games while Pacioretty has only managed to score a single goal. Both players are capable of much more offensively but opponents don’t have much else to worry about besides the duo.

This has allowed defenses to put their entire focus on trying to shut down Drouin and Pacioretty. The addition of another talented player like Duchene would make life easier for Drouin and Pacioretty as defenses would have to pick and choose who to defend against.

Besides Duchene, there are notable pending free agents who Montreal could consider targeting for the remainder of the season. Players such as Evander Kane, Rick Nash, David Perron, and James Neal could all help provide goal scoring and likely wouldn’t cost nearly as much as Duchene to acquire. However, all those players are wingers and what the Canadiens truly need is a top-six center.

Still, something is better than nothing and given how Neal has led the way for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t do the same for Montreal. After all, Neal’s six goals in seven games would look awfully good on the Canadiens’ roster right now.

With divisional opponents running away in the standings Montreal needs to make a move soon. They’ve already placed themselves in a hole that will be tough to climb out of but it isn’t impossible just yet. The acquisition of a top-six forward could be the spark needed to turn around the Canadiens season.

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However, if a move isn’t made soon then this could be a long season in Montreal that would also likely see an overhaul of team management.