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The all-star break is approaching and it’s not a minute too soon for the Canadiens. Once again this morning, there was no Sean Monahan at practice and 3 players were excused to receive treatments: Dach, Dvorak and Dadonov. To be fair, the timing isn’t bad to have this kind of year health wise, after all, the Canadiens are rebuilding and this year is not about winning, but the plethora of injuries is still a worry.
Shea Weber, Carey Price, Paul Byron and eventually, Brendan Gallagher, 4 names who seem likely to end their contracts on LTIR. Is it just bad luck or is it time to be concerned about the Canadiens’ medical personnel? To be fair, I don’t know enough to answer that question, but it is my hope that the people in the know will be taking a long-hard look this off-season and make the needed changes if they believe it to be necessary.
While the focus isn’t on winning this year, it’s well known that Kent Hughes was hoping to move some bodies at the trade deadline to pick up more assets including another 1st round pick at the upcoming draft, but the way things are going, it’s looking doubtful that he’ll be able to do so. Two of the players who were expected to fetch the best returns, Sean Monahan and Joel Edmundson are both injured.
Considering how long Monahan has been off, GMs should be weary of dealing for him and they’ll probably want to see him put together a string of games before pulling the trigger on a trade. As for Edmundson, he’s had recurrent back problems for two seasons now and that should in itself be a red flag. There were persistent rumors that the Avalanche might be interested in Monahan, but there are now rumblings that Colorado could be looking to Ryan O’Reilly instead.
Sure, there are other players who could be moved like Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov and Jonathan Drouin for instance, but considering their body of work this year, it’s unlikely that a team will think any of them is the missing piece in their chase for the cup puzzle.
Last season, Tyler Toffoli was traded to Calgary in mid-February, this year, there is a slight possibility that Josh Anderson could be sent packing. Power forwards are useful, and they are few and far between in this league, but Anderson’s contract and lack of consistency might prevent a trade from being made. We’ll have to wait and see what happens on that front.
On social media, people are already suggesting that if Monahan cannot be traded at the deadline, the Canadiens should look to extend him. I disagree. I like Monahan and the way he plays, of course I do, but considering his health status, I don’t think it should be considered. I mean the Canadiens have enough injury trouble as it’s stand, they shouldn’t seek to extend a player who might end up like Price and Weber. The sole reason they traded for Monahan was because the Flames gave them a 1-round pick, getting another one at the deadline would have been a nice bonus, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work and that’s that, there’s no need to double down. According to Eric Engels, the Canadiens intend to provide an update on Monahan before the end of the week, this should be interesting.
Since I’m on the topic of Carey Price, I find it hilarious that mainstream media is treating Angela Price’s Instagram post about moving to BC this Summer like brand new information, she had made a similar post a month ago on New Year’s Eve, guess everyone was too busy ringing in the new year to notice…
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