It’s crazy times and things are going fast and furious. Players have received their qualifying offers and those who didn’t will find themselves added to the UFA frenzy. Rumours are everywhere as teams are trying to find cap space and players for next season.
First, let’s start with Radio-Canada columnist Martin Leclerc, who launched a bomb today stating that he has heard that Kent Hughes and Kevin Cheveldayoff almost pulled the trigger at the draft on a huge trade. And apparently, talks are still ongoing as the Canadiens are trying hard to get Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets. Leclerc advances that with a center line of Suzuki, Dubois and Dach on the top-9, it would go a long way into accelerating the rebuild, reset or re-whatever you want to call it.
Then, Mike Johnson, who doesn’t stick his neck out very often, felt the need to inform the listeners on the NHL Network that he see pending UFA John Klingberg going to the Habs. The Canadiens are trying to trade Jeff Petry who would like to go play in the USA and Hughes has stated wanting to replace him with a veteran right-handed defenseman. If he manages to convince Klingberg, it would be a huge feat for the rookie GM.
Now with Dubois (24) and Klingberg (29), this wouldn’t be the same team, particularly not if Carey Price is healthy and good to go.
As a side note, Renaud Lavoie was on 91.9 Sports and hinted that the Canadiens might have agreed to a trade on Friday at the draft but it won’t be announced until today or tomorrow. This brought speculations that it could be Petry, who is owed a $3 million signing bonus on July 13th and the team in question is waiting for that to be paid. It could also be a team whose first choice is Klingberg but if they can’t get him, then they would turn to Petry…
As you can see, it’s crazy out there. Something could happen soon after publishing this article…
More reading…
- Development Camp – Prospects Measure Up by JD Lagrange
- Quality vs Quantity – Finding The Balance by Bob Trask
- Aiming For The Stars – A Trades Tale by JD Lagrange
Which Habs team will we be cheering in October? Tomorrow May decide a lot.
Exciting times.