It’s not always about hunting the big game.
The Montreal Canadiens are not where they’d like to be in the overall standings, having sunk to 26th overall not too long after competing for the Stanley Cup against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the COVID-addled summer of 2021.
So it wasn’t about making a deal to prepare for another playoff run this time.
Instead, the Canadiens had eyes on the future when GM Kent Hughes helped kick off trade season by sending forward Sean Monahan to Winnipeg for both a first-round pick this summer and a conditional seventh-rounder in 2027.
The former sixth overall pick (2013) had tumbled from 34 goals in 2018-19 to just eight in 2021-22 for Calgary when Montreal accepted a first-round pick to take him and the final year of a $6.375 million annual contract off the Flames’ hands in the summer of 2022.
He signed a one-year deal worth $1.985 million to stay with the Canadiens last summer and had 35 points in 49 games before the Jets came calling in February, meaning Montreal snagged two first-round draft choices to be a layover in his trip from Alberta to Manitoba.
Looking ahead was also the mission on Friday when Hughes got involved again, clearing the team’s goal crease by sending veteran Jake Allen to New Jersey for a conditional third-round pick and an agreement to retain half the remaining salary on a two-year, $7.7 million deal that runs through the end of the 2024-25 season.
It clears space for youngsters Samuel Montembeault, 27, and Cayden Primeau, 24, whose combined $1.89 million salary is still less than the portion of Allen’s check they’ll be keeping.
And whether or not they’re the goalies who’ll wake up the echoes, it’s still an excellent portfolio of future-focused investments by Hughes and Co.
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