Surprise: Kent Hughes has reportedly removed a big name off the trade market and two players are put on the available players list

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Elias Edmonson
January 28, 2024 (8:15 PM)

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We are about a month and a half away from the NHL trade deadline, which will take place next March 8, and we are starting to get a clearer picture of the teams that will be buyers or sellers.

While some teams are practically already eliminated from the playoff race, there are others for whom it is still possible to be in the race, like the Canadiens. (with a lot of luck)

That said, as reported by Nicolas Desrosiers, from the Marqueur.com website, the site of The Athletic has published an update of the list of the 10 players most likely to be traded at the trade deadline which is as follows:

1. Elias Lindholm - C (Flames)
2. Chris Tanev - RD (Flames)
3. Sean Walker - RD (Flyers)
4. Sean Monahan - C (Canadiens)
5. Jake Allen - G (Canadiens)
6. Vladimir Tarasenko - RW (Senators)
7. Andrei Kuzmenko - LW (Canucks)
8. Noah Hanifin - LD (Flames)
9. Adam Henrique - C (Ducks)
10. Jake Guentzel - LW (Penguins)

As we can see, there are two players from the Canadiens, Sean Monahan and Jake Allen. So, these are the two players from the CH who would officially be on the trade market.

We agree that this is not a very big surprise, especially regarding Monahan, but in the very first version of this list from The Athletic, the name of defenseman Michael Matheson was included.

But he has been removed!

Does this mean that Kent Hughes will definitely not trade his veteran defenseman?

Let's just say that the chances seem quite slim for now because number 8 is definitely the best defenseman on the team as he is heading towards the best season of his career.

But it's notable to see that he was on the list, and that he has been removed.

But to come back to Allen and Monahan, we can expect in their cases that Kent Hughes' phone will be quite busy over the next few weeks and it will remain to be seen which of the two will leave Montreal first.