NHL Insider reveals who the first player to be dealt by the Montreal Canadiens will be
All talk this past week has surrounded Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry. From his possible trade request, to his preferred destination and even some of the abuse his wife experiences on Instagram. Well at least one NHL Insider doesn't believe that Jeff Petry will be the first Canadiens' player to move.
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, it will be a Canadiens defenseman who'll be on the move first, but it's going to be Ben Chiarot. Chiarot is currently in the final year of his 3-year deal with a cap hit of $3,500,000
"I still believe that Chiarot will be the first to be traded, because he will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The St. Louis Blues are very involved in this and they are not the only team in the race."
"If you withhold a portion of Chiarot's salary, you only agree to do it this year [knowing that his contract is coming to an end]. In Petry's case, you would be retaining salary for a long time [his contract ends in 2025]."
Chiarot who is not having a great season likely appeals to many teams almost exclusively based off of the success he had in a shutdown role with the Canadiens during the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Pierre LeBrun had previously reported the likely cost for Chiarot would include a 1st round pick, which at this point seems unlikely, but the closer we get to the trade deadline we could see some desperate teams make some big moves.
Credit: GoHabsGo
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