Two Montreal Canadiens players are reportedly on the trade market

PUBLICATION

Jeff Drouin
October 10, 2022 (6:38 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

Training camp is finally over and the Montreal Canadiens are ready for the regular season. With two days to go before the opening game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre, the organization has made its last cuts and we already know the forward lines and defensive pairs that will start the season.

While the team's first pick in the last draft, Juraj Slafkovsky, has succeeded in starting the season with the big club, it is a little less conclusive for Mike Hoffman and Jonathan Drouin.

The two forwards alternated on the third line with Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan, which probably means that one of them will not play on Wednesday night against the Leafs.

Shane Seney has identified Hoffman as one of the two most likely players to be traded this season. However, Drouin is not the other player identified in the article, it is rather the newcomer Evgeny Dadonov.

Acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Shea Weber's contract, the 33-year-old Russian forward is expected to be a transient in Montreal, as he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

It's safe to say that Kent Hughes intends to put him on display during the first few weeks of the regular season and that if he performs well, the Habs could get something interesting in return.

As for Hoffman, it is not a big surprise that he is already on the hot seat at the beginning of the season. Despite the organization's best efforts to get rid of him during the off-season, his salary of $4.5 million per year and his rather disappointing production of 35 points last year have made it clear that many teams wouldn't touch him even with a ten-foot pole.

That being said, number 68 could bounce back in 2022-2023 and increase his value in a potential trade, but if he's not able to get back on track, Hoffman could become one of the most hated players of the last 15 years in Montreal along with the likes of Scott Gomez, Sergei Samsonov and Rene Bourque. In all honesty, we don't wish it on him.

It's not a surprise, but everything indicates that the information revealed in September was true, and Mike Hoffman and Evgeny Dadonov would indeed be available on the trade market.