NHL Trade Rumors: Top insider reports Montreal Canadiens 'open to making a move'

The Montreal Canadiens have gotten off to a rough 2-4-1 start to the 2024-25 NHL season. With the team struggling in the standings early on, NHL insider Pierre LeBrun reported on Thursday that the Canadiens are exploring the trade market and are open to making a move to shake things up.

According to LeBrun, Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes has started calling around the league and getting a sense of what options may be available via trade. The early season struggles seem to have fueled Hughes to make more calls than he normally would this soon into a campaign.

“Kent Hughes has started to call around, doing his due diligence, at least getting a sense of what’s out there because I think the Canadiens would be open to making a move here that would help sort of shake up the make up a bit and help this team win some games,” LeBrun said on TSN's 'Early Trading'.

One major trade saw the team acquire winger Patrik Laine from Columbus, but Laine suffered an injury setback (two to three months) and his loss has impacted Montreal's attack.

It's uncommon to see trades happening during this time of the NHL season because of salary cap limitations. However, LeBrun noted Montreal seems open to making a move now if it would provide a spark and help it start winning games.

LeBrun stressed that nothing appears to be imminent for Montreal on the trade front at this stage.

Pierre LeBrun on Montreal Canadiens looking for a long-term deal

The Canadiens are looking to make a long-term addition to their roster, as per LeBrun. However, LeBrun noted the Canadiens are not interested in mortgaging their future just to make a short-term fix.

“One is that the Habs aren’t going to mortgage the future in any kind of deal – the long term still trumps all,” LeBrun said.

“The other thing is that they’re right at the cap, so it’s got to be apple for apple, in terms of a salary coming in, a salary going out, which also adds to the difficulty of making that kind of trade this early in the year,” he added.

Specifically, LeBrun mentioned the Montreal Canadiens may look to add some two-way grit to their middle six forward group. This hints at a desire to bring in a player who combines skill with physicality and defensive responsibility.

While currently operating at the cap ceiling, they have potential flexibility with Laine and Harvey-Penard on LTIR. Additionally, they could create $10.5 million in LTIR cap overage space by placing Carey Price on LTIR, though they've yet to exercise this option.