There's action on the Montreal's press gallery: 4 players could be traded due to the surplus on offense

PUBLICATION

Jeff Drouin
October 4, 2022 (6:09 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

It is no secret that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton have made it clear that they will have to make some tough decisions in the coming days.

Now that training camp is coming to an end and the evaluation of players is well underway, we can expect the trade market to be active.

On this side, Kent Hughes has been absolutely transparent. If he has the opportunity to trade a high-salaried veteran forward, and if the deal makes sense for the organization, he'll do it.

He is left with a significant surplus of NHL-caliber forwards, and on top of that, he wants to lower his payroll.

Players like Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Drouin, Joel Armia and Evgeny Dadonov could be dealt, especially if there is an opportunity on the trade market. (Maybe Christian Dvorak.) These are the players that have been targeted in recent weeks, according to knowledgeable sources.

On that subject, Marc-Olivier Beaudoin noticed something very interesting last night against the Maple Leafs, and it will obviously happen again tonight.

There were an unusually large number of scouts at the game, watching the Montreal Canadiens players. There is some action on the press gallery, and things seem to be getting busy in the NHL.

Check out the teams that were in attendance:

There are often scouts at #CH preseason games but tonight there are clearly more than usual.

A potential trade that would send a #Canadian forward to another team could explain this traffic. Stay tuned!

Many of these organizations could use players like Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman.

Has Kent Hughes put them on display more clearly, now that he's seen that some young (less expensive) forwards are ready to take over? It seems logical.

Plus, there's Sean Monahan, who is back healthy and adds to that surplus at forward.

Mike Hoffman and Jonathan Drouin were just in uniform yesterday. It's possible that these teams are looking at them for a possible trade, but it could also be for a trade.

Dadonov and Dvorak were also in uniform against the Leafs.

This is a small file to follow and to keep in mind, while waiting for the CH management to make the big decisions they have to make.

We believe however that giving up too quickly with Jonathan Drouin could be a big mistake, he remains very talented (as for Hoffman and Dadonov, it's less risky).