Pierre McGuire reveals details of a rejected trade between the Canadiens and Senators
Pierre McGuire says the Ottawa Senators bid on Artturi Lehkonen in 2022.
The Montreal Canadiens took Colorado's package instead.
McGuire, who worked for Ottawa that season, said on The Sick Podcast that the Senators submitted a genuine offer that came in below the Colorado Avalanche's.
“And now we know why the Avalanche had the upper hand over the Sens."
Montreal retained half of Lehkonen's salary and took back Justin Barron and a 2024 second-round pick.
Barron's ending is the familiar part.
He went to the Nashville Predators in December 2024 for Alexandre Carrier.
The pick is the piece nobody traces.
Where Colorado's second-rounder actually went
Kent Hughes never used it in Montreal. On June 28, 2024, he bundled that selection, 57th overall, with Winnipeg's 26th from the Sean Monahan deal and a seventh-rounder, and sent all three to the Los Angeles Kings.
What came back was 21st overall.
Montreal drafted Michael Hage there, and the Kings turned the old Lehkonen pick into goaltender Carter George.
Carrier is the half of this trade tree everyone can see. The other half is a 20-year-old center at the University of Michigan.
Ottawa's near-miss looks bigger four years later
Hage is now the most protected asset in the organization. He led all scorers at the 2026 World Junior Championship with 15 points in seven games and led the NCAA in assists with 52.
Frank Seravalli reported this summer that Hughes keeps telling callers Hage is not available.
Two teams bid on the same winger in March 2022. Only one of those offers contained the raw material that later became a first-round center.
Had Ottawa won that bid, the 2024 draft-day climb almost certainly never happens, because the second-rounder that greased it belonged to Colorado.
That is the real cost of finishing second on a deadline call.
It shows up four drafts later, in someone else's prospect pool.
Also read on House Of Hockey :
Vancouver's latest crisis is giving the Canucks a whole new headache
Vancouver's latest crisis is giving the Canucks a whole new headache