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Greg Wyshynski, ESPNFeb 2, 2024, 04:49 PM ET
CloseGreg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
For the second time in three days, a pair of Canadian NHL teams made a trade with a center going to the Stanley Cup contender, and a first-round pick (and more) going to a team looking to build for the future.
This trade saw veteran center Sean Monahan dealt to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a 2024 first-round draft pick and a 2027 conditional third-round pick going back to the Montreal Canadiens.
Which front office did better in this swap? We grade both GMs here.
This is going to go down as one of the greatest examples of asset management in the salary cap era.
In August 2022, the Canadiens and Calgary Flames made a trade. Montreal acquired Monahan in the final year of his contract, which carried a $6.375 million cap hit. Monahan’s star had dimmed after being one of the top centers in the league for the Flames from 2017-19. He’s had two hip surgeries, a groin surgery and wrist surgery in the last few seasons.
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The Flames wanted his salary off their roster, so they traded a conditional 2025 first-round pick to the Canadiens, who had plenty of cap room for Monahan.
He played only 25 games in his first season in Montreal, which were enough to inspire some hope that he was on the road back to effectiveness; the Habs signed him to a one-year, $1.985 million deal heading into 2023-24. Thanks to his point production, his minuscule cap hit and his expiring contract, Monahan became one of the most coveted centers ahead of the trade deadline.
So the Canadiens traded Monahan to the Jets for another first-round pick.
It’s possible that even at the peak of his NHL production that Monahan would not have garnered two first-round picks in a trade. That he basically did through the Canadiens’ two trades — for a 29-year-old reclamation project with an expiring contract and a specious health history — is one of the best uses of salary cap space and value inflation in…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/story/_/id/39445909/nhl-trade-grade-2024-sean-monahan-jets-canadiens-playoffs
Author : Greg Wyshynski
Publish date : 2024-02-02 22:01:36
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