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Yesterday morning, Radio-Canada’s Alexandre Gascon wrote that the Canadiens were actively trying to make a trade with the Shark to swap their first round-pick. Later in the day, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu in his Canadiens offseason notebook confirmed the information but also added that the Habs had also been talking to the Ducks in an attempt to get the 2nd pick overall. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, just that the Canadiens are trying their best to move up.
This is a rather deep draft and even picking at 5th, the Habs would come away with a great player, but if they were to move up, they’d get an even better one and they probably would get less grief for passing on Michkov. I know Habs fans don’t like to hear this, but I really get the feeling HuGo has no interest in playing the Russian roulette and I’m fine with that.
If the information that has been reported so far is right and the Sharks are intent on drafting Will Smith, the conversation between Mike Greer and Kent Hughes would have been pretty short because if the Canadiens were to move up a single spot, it probably would be to get the aforementioned Smith.
The chat with Anaheim’s Pat Verbeek could have been longer though but for that conversation to come to fruition, the Canadiens would have to offer quite the package. If Connor Bedard is the clear number one pick, Adam Fantilli seems to be the number two in most mock drafts and list. Even if he’s yet to prove anything as a professional he will probably turn out to be a core piece in any reconstruction.
Just speculating here but what could it take? I think the Ducks could be greedy and ask for a couple of roster player, a high profile prospect and perhaps even a couple of picks. Don’t even dream of the roster players being those surplus to requirement that nobody wants, the mere mention of Armia and Hoffman’s name would probably get Verbeek to hang up the phone. What could be a realistic offer? If I’m Hughes I would offer:
-Josh Anderson: big contract but a power forward is a sought-after asset and he’s under contract for four years at a cap hit of 5.5 M;
-Jordan Harris: I like Harris the kid is good on the ice and his so smart off the ice, but we’ve got a surplus of left-handed defenseman and he doesn’t have the grit that a Xhekaj has;
-Owen Beck: If the deal goes through, Beck becomes expandable since the Habs would be set down the middle with Suzuki, Dach and Fantilli;
-The 5th overall pick.
If Anderson’s salary is an issue, I’d even be open to retain some salary. If Anaheim goes for it, it would mean that they’d be fine with picking Michkov which is the player likely to still be on the board at 5th, but that doesn’t mean that they’d be willing to do a straight swap for the pick or even the pick and a single player. The Michkov risk means that the compensation has got to be bigger. Even with the package I describe here, the Ducks could very well say thanks but no thanks.
Would you be willing to offer that if you were Kent Hughes? If not, what would your offer be? I’ve written this under the assumption that Suzuki, Dach, Caufield and Guhle are untouchables, but do you think one of them would have to be involved? Hang in there, there’s just under two weeks of speculation left before the die is cast.
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