Eastern Conference contender interested in Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot

Eleven weeks remain until the NHL's trade deadline and talks between teams should start to heat up in the next little while. One of the names that is drawing quite a bit of interest is Montreal Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot.

His shutdown, hardnosed style of play is something that teams look for leading up to the deadline. His play in the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs has proved that he can play in a top four role and be successful in his own zone.

According to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, one of the teams interested in Ben Chiarot is the Florida Panthers.

"Ben Chiarot is going to be a very popular player among the teams that are in a playoff spot," LeBrun said during the intermission of Montreal's game on Saturday afternoon.

He added, "The Panthers have already discussed internally whether they will make an offer to the Canadiens. I think the answer to this question is yes and that the Panthers will contact the Canadiens. But they won't be the only ones."

Chiarot, 30, has appeared in thirty-one games this season for the Canadiens where he's tallied seven points (five goals, two assists), twenty-six penalty minutes and is a minus-eleven.

The Hamilton, Ontario native was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol just over a week ago. It's unclear when he'll return, but with Montreal's next game not scheduled until January 12th against the Boston Bruins, it's possibly he gets back into the lineup then.

In early-December on TSN's Insider Trading, LeBrun said that he believes that the Montreal Canadiens could get a first-round pick for Chiarot given the lack of availability among rental defenceman.

"Ben Chiarot is a player who's high up on some trade boards now. It's way early, remember, the trade deadline isn't until March 21 but the Habs are obviously out of playoff contention already. And so Ben Chiarot, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, I spoke with a few contending teams today who value him greatly and here's a guy who can absolutely fetch a first-round pick given the dearth of rental defencemen available. He was terrific during the Habs' playoff run to the Stanley Cup Final last year."

Source: RDS.

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