The Montreal Canadiens head into the trade deadline likely looking to add some future assets to the organization.
Fans hope that general manager (GM) Kent Hughes can execute a major deadline deal that will help make them Stanley Cup contenders within the next couple of years. In the meantime, we can look back at some of the Canadiens’ best deadline trades of this century.
Jeff Petry
Montreal was competing with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division at the 2015 NHL Trade Deadline when they began to search for some defensive help. The Edmonton Oilers were doing all they could to tank their season and win the first overall pick in 2015. The reward for that was a young phenom named Connor McDavid. So, the Oilers were eager to trade out NHL assets, especially ones on expiring contracts.
The Canadiens identified Oilers right-handed defender, Jeff Petry. The cost? Two 2015 Draft picks. A second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick, which became a fourth-round selection with the Canadiens’ first-round win over the Ottawa Senators. Petry finished the regular season with the Canadiens, putting up seven points in 19 games and scoring three points in 12 playoff games before the team bowed out in the second round.
Before he could test free agency in 2015, he signed a six-year deal to stay in Montreal. Petry spent eight seasons in a Canadiens sweater after finding the right fit to hit his peak as an NHL player. He was an offensive weapon, scoring 248 points in 508, and he played over 24 minutes per game in the playoffs on the way to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2021. Many factors led to his eventual trade out of Montreal, but those two 2015 picks became the seeds of a trade tree that led to Mike Matheson, who became the Canadiens’ top defenceman as of 2024-25. It’s a deadline deal that continues to impact the franchise.
Brett Kulak
When Brett Kulak was traded to Montreal, it was considered a throwaway American Hockey League (AHL) deal to add depth to the Laval Rocket. However, he became a very reliable NHL defender until the 2021-22 season arrived, and Montreal was starting to rebuild. The new GM, Kent Hughes, was reportedly looking to land a second-round pick, which seemed high. However, the Oilers were looking to bolster their blue line with a mobile, left-shot rental.
In the end, Edmonton offered up left-handed defender William Lagesson, a conditional 2022 second-round pick, and a 2024 seventh-round pick in exchange for Kulak, who was in the final year of a three-year contract that paid him $1.85 million per season. The reason this deadline deal is on this list is because of that conditional pick.
The condition for the second pick was that if the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final, Montreal would receive Edmonton’s 2023 second-round pick instead. Fortunately, the Oilers lost in the Western Conference Final, and the second-round pick did not defer to the 2023 Draft. Why is that important? That pick became the 62nd overall pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, used to select Lane Hutson, who is on pace to become an impactful offensive defenceman for Montreal.
Phillip Danault
This deal was a home run. Montreal traded Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann to the Chicago Blackhawks for Philip Danault and a 2018 second-round pick. That second-round pick became Alexander Romanov, who quickly became a top defenceman before he was traded in a series of deals that landed the Canadiens Kirby Dach from Chicago in 2021.
Danault became integral to the Canadiens lineup, especially arriving as Tomas Plekanec was aging out. Danault eventually replaced him in the top six and became the team’s go-to shutdown centre. During the 2021 Playoffs, when Montreal reached the Stanley Cup Final, he centred what was one of the NHL’s best lines, taking on the heavy burden of shutting down the opposition’s stars and factoring into many important goals, especially in the comeback in Round 1 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, which also allowed for a young centre named Nick Suzuki to showcase himself.
Danault established himself as a reliable contributor at both ends of the ice. Although he never scored more than 13 goals in a season, that wasn’t what made him valuable. He established himself as a reliable defensive specialist, especially on the penalty kill, and as a standout in the faceoff circle in six seasons in Montreal. He was heavily relied on by the coaches during their Cup Final run. That summer, he chose to leave Montreal as an unrestricted free agent, signing with the Los Angeles Kings.
Craig Rivet
This deadline deal had the biggest long-term impact on the Canadiens of the last 30 years. As the 2007 Trade Deadline approached, Montreal was in a battle for a playoff spot – they missed the postseason by a single point after losing their final game of the regular season. They also had three soon-to-be unrestricted free agent defencemen in Andrei Markov, Sheldon Souray, and Craig Rivet, and they had to decide who they could afford to re-sign and who would get them a big return.
In the end, they traded Rivet, and the return was impressive as the San Jose Sharks were desperately looking to add veteran depth to their blue line. Montreal received a 2007 first-round pick and Josh Gorges. Gorges became a minute-munching top-four defender and a fan favourite. His steady defensive play made him a great partner for P.K. Subban. Gorges played some of the most difficult minutes at even strength and on the penalty kill and was one of the league’s leaders in shot blocks every season. The first-round pick from San Jose was eventually used to select the team’s future captain, Max Pacioretty.
After a few seasons of trying to find his stride and recover from a terrible injury, Pacioretty became the Canadiens’ top offensive weapon for nearly a decade, scoring 30 goals five times. His 39-goal season in 2013-14 remains the closest anyone came to 40 goals for Montreal in the 21st century. That pick made this trade a major win for Montreal. Gorges was essentially a replacement for Rivet, and Pacioretty was a star forward.
The trade tree from this deal continues to impact Montreal. Gorges was eventually moved to the Buffalo Sabres and Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights for returns that significantly benefited the roster. The Gorges trade led to acquiring goaltender Jake Allen (and now a conditional third-round pick), but the major impact is that the trade with Vegas added Suzuki to the roster. This trade led directly to the Canadiens adding two of their last three captains. Eighteen years later, the deal that sent Rivet and a Canadiens’ third-round pick from 1992 to San Jose is still paying off.
The Canadiens’ rebuild continues, and deadline deals executed by Hughes will hopefully be in line with what will help make this team a Stanley Cup contender within the next couple of years.
