Trade Market: new elements have just been added to Kent Hughes' cards thanks to Drouin and Hoffman

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MarcO
February 19, 2023 (6:34 PM)

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The recent performances of three players on the Habs, Mike Hoffman, Evgeny Dadonov and Jonathan Drouin, may save the trading period for general manager Kent Hughes.

While Joel Edmundson and Sean Monahan were expected to bring an interesting trade value for the CH, the fact that these two players are currently on the injured list changes the situation.

But with the recent success of Drouin, Hoffman and Dadonov, it could very well be that Hughes will not come back empty-handed from his shopping spree for the fast approaching trade deadline.

Joel Bouchard, former coach of the Laval Rocket and now an analyst for TVA Sports agrees, but while appearing on La Poche Bleue le midi, he did mention that the three Habs players are not at the top of most teams' lists, but could still be interesting to some teams.

"Right now, none of the NHL teams that want to push for the Stanley Cup want Drouin, Dadonov or Hoffman. Sometimes, even if you don't want a player, you get to the end and he's just left. I've seen that happen. It can happen that a team does that. The best example is Max Domi in Carolina last year."

Even if this statement by Bouchard does not seem very flattering to the three forwards of the Habs, the fact remains that the way they are currently playing under Martin St-Louis gives Kent Hughes positive points for a possible transaction.

"These are guys who want to play their own way. The Canadiens are more structured and much more committed, collectively. Guys like Dadonov, Drouin and Hoffman benefit from that. These are guys who like to do what they want to do on the ice, but they are their own worst enemy. They have to have structure. They have volatile styles with an imbalance between offense and defense."

While Drouin, Hoffman and Dadonov weren't thought to have much value at one point during the season, Bouchard believes that things have changed in the last few weeks and that it's possible they could be traded by March 3.

"Dadonov is in the middle of Drouin and Hoffman. Hoffman is a scorer and Drouin is definitely not a scorer anymore. With a little bit of hindsight and reflection, I'm going to say today that it could be that these guys get traded. There's always someone somewhere who thinks they can maximize a player and it's going to work out on their team. They won't cost much."

As a result of Bouchard's comments, Habs fans can breathe a little easier with just over two weeks to go before the trade deadline, and like last year, there is no shortage of action once again until March 3.