Pierre LeBrun has new information about Joel Armia's future with the Habs

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Jeff Drouin
April 3, 2022 (4:39 PM)

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Among the disappointments of this year for the Canadiens, we must obviously talk about Joel Armia.

After a great playoff run, where he had eight points in 21 games, Marc Bergevin made sure to keep the Finnish forward's services by giving him a new three-year contract last summer.

With an average annual salary of $3.4 million per year, many experts were talking about a real bargain in his case. However, things quickly turned around in Armia's case, but not for the right reasons.

As reported by my colleague Alexandre Desrosiers of Rumorsandtransaction.com, the Canadiens' forward's contract has become a real drag on Kent Hughes.

Informant Pierre Lebrun even stated that because of Armia's contract, Hughes was unable to keep Artturi Lehkonen on his team. Lehkonen was on his way to having the best season of his career in Montreal, but was traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the trade deadline.

Going back to Armia, Lebrun also mentioned that Kent Hughes should do everything in his power to try to trade him this summer, where he could have a better value on the market.

"Joel Armia's contract is a ball and chain, the Habs have tried, but have not been able to trade him in recent weeks. I think they will try very hard again this summer to trade Armia. That (his contract) is part of the reason they had to trade Lehkonen." - Pierre LeBrun

This season, Armia has only 12 points, including just four goals in 53 games. Also, despite playing on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield lately, he has shown a lot of inconsistency in his play.

Could a change of scenery be beneficial in his case?

We might have the answer after the season.