Kirill Marchenko's name keeps popping up in Montreal circles, and heading into this week the Canadiens can't get a deal with Columbus closed.
Here's why. A three-team trade is apparently the missing piece, and that's a tricky puzzle to solve in July.
The word comes from Marco Normandin, someone plugged deep into Canadiens circles. His reporting carries weight.
Normandin's line was blunt. Something is moving between Montreal and Columbus, but closing it requires a third club willing to take on Canadiens prospects and picks while sending a roster player to the Blue Jackets.
"I'm taking a brief break from my vacation, but here's the info I have:
1. Something is clearly going on between the Canadiens and the Blue Jackets, but to close a major deal, it would require a third team to take the Canadiens' prospects and draft picks and send an NHL player to Columbus-and that's what seems to be complicating the negotiations.
2. Montreal is obviously very interested in Marchenko, but he's not the only one. I'd keep an eye on a Blue Jackets forward capable of playing center who nobody is talking about right now."
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That's the snag. Columbus reportedly isn't interested in taking futures alone for a player like Marchenko.
They want a body that can play tonight, not five years from now.
Marchenko is coming off a strong season. He put up 27 goals and 40 assists for 67 points in 76 games, carrying a plus-7 rating with six power play goals and seven game-winners, and he's still just 26.
Columbus wants a proven NHL player back, not futures
His cap hit sits at $3,850,000, which is exactly the kind of number that makes rebuilding clubs nervous and contending clubs interested.
Columbus finished 40-30-12 for 92 points, 18th overall and fifth in their division, closing the year 2-7-1 over their final ten games. That kind of finish tends to open doors on personnel.
Montreal, meanwhile, wrapped up at 48-24-10 for 106 points with a plus-27 goal differential, going 7-3-0 down the stretch. There's real appetite in Montreal to add a scorer like Marchenko without stripping the whole prospect pool.
Kent Hughes has done this dance before. He built a three-team trade with the Islanders and the Blackhawks to land Kirby Dach, so the blueprint exists.
Is it risky to lean on that same trick twice? Maybe. But betting on a GM who's already pulled it off once isn't the worst gamble in hockey.
The math is simple on paper. Montreal has futures, Columbus wants a player, and somebody else has to bridge the gap.
Finding a club willing to give up a legitimate NHL roster player just to facilitate someone else's trade is the hard part, and it's the part nobody's talking about yet.
Three front offices have to agree on value at the same time, and if any one of them balks, the whole thing collapses.
Hughes has the history. Whether he's got the partner this time is still very much unresolved.
Should the Canadiens give up a package of prospects and picks to land Kirill Marchenko?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Arber Xhekaj trade: Major news out of Montreal that provides confirmation of a deal in the works for the Habs
