Trade brewing in Montreal with latest lineup changes!

The Montreal Canadiens welcomed back defenseman Joel Edmundson on Thursday night after he was sidelined since training camp due to a back injury. The Habs are currently carrying 15 forwards on their roster and with Edmundson’s return, there are reports that they will soon move one out.

The Athletic’s Arpon Basu speculates general manager Kent Hughes might put a veteran such as Evgenii Dadonov, Jonathan Drouin or Mike Hoffman on waivers in order to send them to Laval if they clear, however, Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette believes one of them could be traded instead.

The issue here is that Cowan pointed to Dadonov being the odd man out, however on Thursday, hours after his report was out, Dadonov was placed on the injured reserve.

Everyone knows how Dadonov is struggling in Montreal - even just to get minutes of the ice when healthy - and will feel even more unwanted with all this chatter. The Russian forward was acquired in the off-season in the trade that sent Shea Weber’s contract to the Vegas Golden Knights. Dadonov is in the final year of his deal with a cap hit of $5 million, though he’s earning $6.5 million in actual salary this season.

The feeling from Cowan, and many insiders agree, is that Dadonov does not fit in the Canadiens’ future plans. But come on, his trade value is so low at the moment. He is so expensive, on top of being unproductive and slated to become an unrestricted free agent next July.

If the Canadiens does not want to risk losing a forward on waivers, or rebuff the idea of sending rookie winger Juraj Slafkovsky to AHL Laval, another trade scenario could be moving Drouin, whose name has been mentioned more than once in trade circles. But here again with Drouin, he’s struggled so far this season and is also a UFA at season’s end with a difficult cap hit at $5.5 million.

Two trade options that will be hard to move. So, what will happen in Montreal in order to move a forward out. Pierre LeBrun looked to warn fans on Thursday night’s Insider trading on TSN when he said:

“The Habs have too many guys up front, which is why there were some noteworthy healthy scratches every night with that team. So, we’ll see where that goes, but certainly Montreal is looking to make a move.”