Habs acquire Sean Monahan
The Habs made an addition down the middle back at the draft when they picked up Kirby Dach from Chicago. They added another centre on Thursday when they picked up Sean Monahan from Calgary along with a conditional 2025 first-round pick in exchange for future considerations.
In his prime, Monahan was a quality offensive centre, scoring at least 22 goals in each of his first seven NHL seasons. His best year came back in 2018-19 when he had 34 goals and 48 assists but things have been going in the opposite direction since then.
The 27-year-old has had surgery on both hips in recent years with the latest one coming back in April, putting his 2021-22 campaign to an early end. Last season wound up being one to forget for Monahan as he had just eight goals and 15 assists in 65 games, hardly the type of production that would justify the $6.375 million cap hit on his deal. That contract has one year remaining and he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
With the Habs not being expected to contend this coming season, Monahan’s health – or lack thereof – isn’t as much of a concern. If he’s able to play well and contribute, he’s someone that could be a trade asset at the deadline as long as Montreal pays down half the contract. If things don’t go well, he walks next summer. As things stand, there is some uncertainty as to whether or not he’ll be ready to play in October. He should play at some point as if he was going to be on LTIR all of next season, Calgary would have just kept him.
Monahan’s continued injury trouble played a role in Calgary opting to bring in another centre today when they signed Nazem Kadri to a seven-year deal that carries a $7 million AAV. To make the cap element work, they needed to clear out Monahan’s salary and Montreal is the beneficiary of that move, adding a future first-rounder, albeit one with plenty of conditions after the initial version of the trade was rejected earlier in the day. If you’re so inclined, the press release has all of the muddy details. Now, the Canadiens find themselves well over the cap so they’ll have some work to do on that front in the coming weeks depending on the health of Monahan, Carey Price, and Paul Byron.
Monahan’s Stats: