The Montreal Canadiens have made two significant trades already this offseason, but multiple insiders believe another big swing could be coming.
According to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli and The Athletic's Chris Johnston, the Canadiens may try to complete a trade for St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou.
Seravalli provided the first report appearing on "The Kevin Karius Show" on Thursday, saying, “I think the Canadiens are still trying to get Jordan Kyrou.”
Montreal has already acquired Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders and Zachary Bolduc from the Blues, but the franchise might be looking to improve its young roster further.
With the Canadiens' top-six forward group having room for some reinforcements, Montreal might have turned its attention to the 27-year-old winger, who’s tallied 104 goals over the last three seasons.
Kyrou is signed through 2031 on an eight-year, $65 million deal. In a potential roadblock for a deal, however, Kyrou’s full no-trade clause kicked in on July 1, complicating trade discussions.
Johnston explained the dynamic on Monday's episode of "The Chris Johnston Show" podcast.
“There were discussions between the Blues and other teams, specifically the Montreal Canadiens," Johnston said. "I think they went pretty far down the road of exploring the possibility of a trade on Kyrou.”
Though a deal was never finalized, Johnston doesn’t believe the door is shut completely. That said, the insider acknowledged that the no-trade clause will make it hard for the Blues to maximize the value of the player and what they can get in return for him.
“Now, he has huge say in anything that happens, and I think as a result of that we're actually far less likely to see a trade,” Johnston said. “But I can't rule it out entirely. We'll see if anything goes there."
"But I do think the percentage likelihood of it happening went down considerably after we got to July 1st.”
