REPORT: Montreal Canadiens have BIG plans for the Florida Panthers first round pick

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Ryan
April 5, 2023 (4:42 PM)

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The Montreal Canadiens have had an interesting season. While fans got to see their young stars in Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach produce at career high rates, many fans (including myself) were hoping to see them trade some of their older players for some trade deadline returns, but sadly, nothing happened.

In a trade with the Florida Panthers last season that sent Ben Chiarot to Florida, the Montreal Canadiens received the Panthers 2023 first round pick. While up until last night, it looked like it could be a pick in the top 16, it will most likely be a little later now as the Panthers have now overtaken the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Wild Card position.

The Canadiens already boast a lot of young talent on the roster both on forward and defence. When a rebuilding team only 1 year into the rebuild can ice Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, and some up and coming junior break out stars in Sean Farrell, Owen Beck, Lane Hutson, Riley Kidney, Logan Mailloux, Joshua Roy, this no longer looks like a team that needs to build the cupboards, but one that needs someone who can play now.

Last year, the Canadiens took a chance on a player that had been given up on by his team in Kirby Dach, and it's safe to say that gamble has paid off. Now with the Montreal Canadiens first round pick being in the lottery, the Florida Panthers pick is apparently in play for trade:

Montreal is open to listening on the Panthers 1st RDer they have, especially if they can make a hockey trade like they did in acquiring Kirby Dach.

LeBrun on Insider Trading says Blues will listen on their two late 1st RDers they got for O'Reilly and Tarasenko and Montreal is open to listening on the Panthers 1st RDer they have, especially if they can make a hockey trade like they did in acquiring Kirby Dach.� NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) April 4, 2023

The biggest name that could come to mind as available and could be a target of the Montreal Canadiens is Alexis Lafreniere from the New York Rangers. While the Rangers would most prefer not to move Lafreniere, the sad reality is with the flat cap, the Rangers have a lot of young players who are going to be looking for significant raises in this offseason or next, this could make him expendable at the right price.