Montreal Canadiens held all the leverage in a great trade with the Flames
By Jim Lynch
Many factors make a trade happen; that was shown on Thursday when the Montreal Canadiens acquired Sean Monahan and a conditional first-round draft pick from the Calgary Flames.
In return, the Calgary Flames got nothing more than future considerations – the code around the league for nothing. While this trade might seem puzzling to the average fan, the reasons why the Calgary Flames would make this deal every time it is presented to them has to do with the other news the team announced on Thursday.
The Calgary Flames were in a tough position against the salary cap ceiling, and the Montreal Canadiens knew that.
Before trading Sean Monahan, the team had a little under three million in cap space. That was when rumors started circulating that the Flames were close to signing free agent Nazam Kadri, who recently won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Flames had to do something to clear some cap space, and Sean Monahan looked like the logical player to move. Monahan will make 6.375 million this upcoming season, the final year of his current contract.
While Monahan used to be a good top-six forward on the Flames, he has spent the past few seasons struggling with a hip injury as he has now had two surgeries on his hip since his season ended early in 2020-21.
Monahan played in 65 games this past season before his year was cut short by his second hip surgery. During that time he put up 23 points, including eight goals. That is a major fall from the 31 goals he scored in 2017-18 when he played in 74 games.
Monahan has consistently been a 20 to 30-goal scorer before he has spent time with injuries the past few seasons. While there is a chance he could return to his successful ways, the Flames need to do what is best for them to win now, which means adding Kadri.
So that brings us to why this trade is good for both the Flames and the Canadiens.
Montreal gets to add a first-round draft pick, which is good for them due to their ongoing rebuild. The Flames on the other hand get to continue their win-now mode and do their best to build a good roster for next season.
I do not think anyone envisioned the Flames roster to look the way it does now when their season came to a close in the second round. While losing Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk could have been the end of this roster, Brad Treliving has done his best to make this roster competitive adding players like Jonathan Huberdeau and now Nazem Kadri.
On the Canadiens side of things as well, if Monahan comes back this upcoming season and plays well, who is to say the team cannot go out and deal him at the deadline for another asset? When you are rebuilding making a move like this really is a win-win.