Kirill Marchenko trade talk is heating back up, and the Canadiens are again framed as the team best positioned to land him.
The latest mock proposal, floated by IceMetrix on Sunday, has Montreal sending a four-piece package to Columbus for the Blue Jackets winger.
The ask: Alexander Zharovsky, Kirby Dach, Adam Engstrom, and a second-round pick heading south in exchange for Marchenko.
That is a real price. Dach and Engstrom are not throw-ins, they are regulars in Martin St-Louis lineup right now.
Dach logged 13:32 of ice time and put three shots on goal in Saturday 4-1 win over Toronto, his most recent outing.
Engstrom played 18:17 in that same night, added a shot on goal and took two penalty minutes on the back end.
Montreal has won two straight and carries that momentum into Monday game against Ottawa.
Why Columbus would even listen to this offer
Kent Hughes, Montreal general manager, would be adding a proven finishing winger if this framework ever gains real traction around the league.
Columbus, under head coach Rick Bowness and GM Don Waddell, hosts Detroit on Monday night in their next scheduled game.
Would Don Waddell actually pull the trigger on his own winger for a package built around futures and a middle-six center? That is the real question.
Giving up Dach this early would sting. He is exactly the kind of size-and-speed center Montreal has been trying to build down the middle.
Zharovsky is not showing up in the box scores yet, which makes him the wild card in any real negotiation, not the centerpiece. But he has a bright future.
Nothing here is close to official. It is a mock proposal from an outside account, not a report from either front office.
But the fact that this specific framework keeps resurfacing, with Dach and Engstrom as the headline names, tells you where the speculation is trending.
Montreal does not visit Columbus until December 12, a road date that could look a lot different if any part of this speculation turns real.
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Columbus plays Detroit Monday. Montreal hosts Ottawa the same night. Neither front office has said a word publicly about any of it.
Should the Canadiens give up Kirby Dach to land Kirill Marchenko?
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