Trade plans brewing in Montreal thanks to unfortunate situation...

The Montreal Canadiens are still juggling three netminders on their roster in the 2023-24 season. It’s not an ideal situation, especially since general manager Kent Hughes inked young goalie Samuel Montembeault to a three-year contract earlier this month. It looks like it may be time for a trade in Montreal and the Canadiens got a great new opportunity to pull the trigger on one of the goaltenders on Thursday night when the Seattle Kraken was struck by bad luck…

That’s when Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol announced that his star goalie Philipp Grubauer is week to week with a lower-body injury. The no. 1 goalie in Seattle was injured in the second period of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. As he lunged to his right to make a stop, he immediately crumpled to the ice and struggled to get up, favoring his right side. He did his best to finish the frame, but laboured over to the tunnel for intermission and did not come back out for the third period.

Many reporters and insiders believe it is time for Hughes to put a trade plan in Montreal and offer one of his goalies to the Kraken.

The logical choice would be to move Jake Allen, though his age, performance and contract could make it a challenge. However for the Kraken, it may be a case of desprate times call for desperate measures…

Cayden Primeau may also be an option and both have been able to impress rival teams’ scouts who have come to watch them play in late November and early December.

It remains to be seen if the trigger will be pulled ahead of the NHL’s holiday roster freeze. Nothing can happen on the trade or waiver front from December 20 to December 27.

We know that clubs like the Buffalo Sabres and the Kraken have held discussions with the Habs about their trio of netminder. With the Kraken’s unfortunate situation with an injured Grubauer, we can only assume they remain in the mix and Hughes should capitalize on that.

Grubauer helped Seattle reach the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season and he will be missed. A trade could be the Kraken’s only way to stay in the playoff picture until Grubauer can return…

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