As today’s trade deadline loomed, the Montreal Canadiens travelled to Alberta for a showdown with the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. They took it down to the wire in overtime, and nearly forced a shootout, before a sublime saucer pass from Connor McDavid ended the game with less than seven seconds on the clock. This ended their season-long winning streak at five games, but with one more point, this team is in a better position than they have been in years.
For the last few years, the Habs’ brass had a very obvious job to do on this day. This time, it isn’t all that simple.
Lane Hutson gains the zone, waits for support, and tees up Joel Armia.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 7, 2025
2-2 #Habs tie it up once again. pic.twitter.com/u1oOpqiJgH
Would you even consider moving a player like Joel Armia? A year ago, most fans would probably say to take whatever you can get and not look back. Now, he’s looking like a piece this team wouldn’t be able to afford to do without in their final 20 games. He may not be a marquee player on this team, but he is an important contributor that helped them play a very tight game with a team that was in the Stanley Cup Final last season.
This was an extremely tight game, all things considered. By the end, expected-goals at even strength were 2.3-2.25 in favour of the Oilers, an far slimmer margin than one would expect given the sheer elite talent disparity between the two rosters. It was tough not to watch that game and wonder what it could have looked like if the Canadiens had just one or two more pieces available to them.
Getting to overtime earned the Habs their 11th point of a possible 12 since the Four Nations break, which has put them just a point back of the Senators for the final wild card, and two back of Columbus for the first. Kent Hughes is not in a position to mortgage this team’s future to secure one of those spots, but it will be interesting to see what he does today to try and offer them a bit of support as they look to surprise most of the hockey world.
They got some help with teams around them losing – Boston, Detroit, Columbus, and Philadelphia all dropped their respective games last night in regulation. Hughes might have to wait and see what some of the teams they’re battling with decide to do, because it isn’t out of the question that some effectively bow out of the race by selling off assets.
The fact that this team is firmly in the wild card race is a massive victory for the rebuild. Whatever happens today, management should be feeling pretty confident that they’ve set this team up for much more future success.
It might end up being one of the more boring deadline days in recent history, but it is incredibly refreshing to know that the games that come thereafter should be anything but boring.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you typically get your podcasts. We’ll be back after our first look at the post-deadline Habs on Saturday night, on the road against the Calgary Flames.
