Still within reach of a wild card spot, the Montreal Canadiens started a very important home-and-home against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. If they have playoff aspirations, taking both games against the last-place team in the division would be imperative. Simply put, if you can’t take four points from them, you never had any business sniffing the playoffs in the first place.
Well, they took the first one, and now with only two games left before the trade deadline, Kent Hughes has the unenviable task of deciding whether or not he’s going to sell assets.
Mike Matheson threads one for Alex Newhook, and the #Habs take a 3-2 lead with a buzzer beater. pic.twitter.com/f5anI4OoJ1
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 2, 2025
As of this writing, the Habs are just three points behind Detroit for the final wild card, and five points back of Columbus. If Montreal finish off their home-and-home strong, then take two points from Edmonton before the deadline, selling off players like Jake Evans and Joel Armia will be a lot harder than it seemed like it would be prior to the Four Nations break. They are, as promised, in the mix, so how do you explain to your players that you’re trading away some of the pieces that got them there?
One thing is for sure, they can’t be buyers. This team is not in a position to give up draft picks and prospects for rental players. You don’t load up to try and get a wild card spot, you do that only if you believe that your Stanley Cup window is wide open. This leaves Kent Hughes with quite the conundrum, because he has to try and strike a balance between keeping his team competitive this season without setting the rebuild back.
The good news is that we’ve already heard rumours that Hughes isn’t entertaining offers involving nothing but draft picks for players like Jake Evans. He wants to acquire players that are closer to show ready, because even if this team doesn’t find a way into the playoffs, they’ve taken a big step forward.
Draft picks are fun, but this team already has a lot of them. More picks in the second and third rounds that will take years to materialize into NHL players, if they do at all, aren’t what the rebuild needs. If they want to take another step next season, they’ll need players who can step straight into that lineup. Hopefully, this is what Hughes is looking at. He’s got his work cut out for him.
At the end of the day, this team being good enough to make deadline decisions a lot tougher is a good problem to have.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back for the second half of this home-and-home on Monday night at the Bell Centre.
