Montreal Canadiens could be involved in three-player trade with Canadian rival

The trade currency everyone names does not.

The Hockey News floated Arber Xhekaj as the starting piece, and the logic is clean on paper.

Whitecloud is a right-shot defenseman on a $2.75 million cap hit through 2027-28, and the Montreal Canadiens need right-side balance behind Noah Dobson and Alexandre Carrier.

Here is the part nobody has priced in. Xhekaj is not a player Craig Conroy can simply trade for - he is an unsigned restricted free agent who never filed for salary arbitration.

That makes Xhekaj offer-sheet eligible. AFP Analytics projects his next deal at $1.482 million on one year.

The NHL set this summer's no-compensation offer sheet threshold at $1,575,969. Anything at or below that costs the signing team nothing in draft picks.

Kent Hughes would almost certainly match at that price, and Montreal holds a $1.3 million qualifying offer as its floor. But the public number tells every rival exactly what Xhekaj is worth.

You cannot headline a trade with a player whose market has been openly benchmarked under $1.6 million. That is the quiet reason this pairing already died once, when Whitecloud stayed put at the March deadline despite heavy interest.

Whitecloud arrived in Calgary as a component of the Rasmus Andersson trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, alongside a 2027 first-round pick. Craig Conroy did not target him, and he is not obligated to sell him cheap.

Whitecloud turns 30 in November with two years left, which softens Calgary's leverage but does not erase it.

If the Montreal Canadiens want him, the price is futures - not a blueliner who sat out the entire Eastern Conference Final.

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