Canadiens expected to be active ahead of trade deadline

After starting the season with a 9-4-2 record, the Canadiens had a week off in mid-February. Since they returned from that week break they've only won three games, and have compiled a record of 3-4-5. Montreal now sits in the fourth and final playoff spot in the Scotia North division, two points up on fifth place Calgary, who they just lost back-to-back games to.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, the Canadiens are weighing their options, among those being considered is Nashville Predators defenceman Mattias Ekholm. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the asking price for Ekholm is quite high. Nashville is wanting two prospects and a first round pick.

It's unclear when the Canadiens first expressed interest in Ekholm, but late last week David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported they were in on the Borlange, Sweden native.

On Monday, Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot underwent surgery for a fractured right hand, and will be out of the lineup for the next six-to-eight weeks, likely missing the remainder of the regular season. Chiarot was playing on the Habs' top defensive pair with captain Shea Weber, and was averaging just over 21 minutes a night. It's quite likely that Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin will be busy on the trade front now that the defensive core was dealt a big blow with Chiarot's injury.

If the Canadiens intend on becoming aggressive in talks with Nashville regarding Ekholm, what would a trade between the two even look like? Along with the Habs' first round pick, one player Nashville could be interested in is 22 years old defenceman Victor Mete. Mete reportedly asked for a trade earlier this season after being a healthy scratch for a good portion of the Canadiens start, and has only suited up in 7 of Montreal's 27 games. Mete will be a healthy scratch on Monday in favour of Xavier Ouellet when Montreal faces Winnipeg.

Nashville are down two key defencemen due to injuries. Roman Josi, and Ryan Ellis are both on IR with upper-body injuries, so it's possible they could look to bring in a defenceman to eat up some minutes until they are back. With both Josi and Ellis out, it might not make much sense for Preds general manager David Poile to move Ekholm, but the return for a player of his calibre will be hard to pass on.

Other than being interested in Ekholm, the Canadiens will look to possibly add to their bottom-six. One option for Marc Bergevin other than going into the trade market is by filling a hole in their bottom-six with a guy like Michael Frolik. Frolik was signed by the Canadiens in late December 2020, and has not appeared in a game at all this season, and has been on the taxi squad.

While on TSN690 radio in Montreal, Darren Dreger said that he wouldn't be surprised if the Canadiens used some of their 2021 draft picks to acquire players to upgrade, and improve in areas of need. Montreal has fourteen picks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, six of which come in the first three rounds.

Dreger on TSN690 says the Canadiens have 14 drafts picks in the 2021 draft and he'd be surprised if Bergevin didn't use some of those as currency to try and improve in some areas. #GoHabsGo— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) March 15, 2021

It'll be interesting to see what Marc Bergevin does between now and the trade deadline on April 12th. In the meantime, the Canadiens will look to bounce back after losing their last two games. They'll face the Winnipeg Jets in the Manitoba capital on Monday night at 8pm ET.

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