Why the Canadiens Didn’t Make a Move at the Deadline

written by: Jonah sacks (@Silkypucktalk)

March 10, 2026

The NHL’s trade deadline has officially passed, and the Habs stood flat, making no moves for a second year straight, but under different circumstances than last season’s deadline. This time around, it wasn’t captain Nick Suzuki asking management not to sell, battling for a playoff spot with players on expiring deals not in future plans.

This time, the Habs were sitting more comfortably in the WC1 spot, with third in the Atlantic Division within reach. They have been in a playoff spot all season, with little to no pending UFAs with trade value. 

If management were going to make a move, it wasn’t to sell players, it was to buy from other teams.

Listen, yes, there were rumours Kent Hughes was seconds away from pulling off a massive trade, but we can only judge based on the facts. And the fact is the Habs didn’t capitalize on a very unique opportunity they had.

The two players on this team with the best pure offensive skill are 22-year-old Lane Hutson and 20-year-old Ivan Demidov. Both of these young guns are still on their entry-level contracts, costing the Canadiens each a cap hit of less than $1 million. These are opportunities that can only be maximized if these players are surrounded by more talent on good-value contracts.

For example, the Leafs couldn’t fully capitalize on Matthew Knies’entry-level contract and Joseph Woll’s sub $1M cap hit at the 2025 deadline because they were paying Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares a combined $46.65M. Thankfully for the Habs, that’s not the case in Montreal. Their four highest-paid players: Noah Dobson, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovský combine for a $32.825M cap hit.

And yet, the Canadiens still decided not to add a “big fish.” Why is that? 

You can argue that Patrik Laine handcuffed them with his $8.7M price tag, and no teams were willing to take him unless the Habs were giving up future assets packaged with Laine, which they were unwilling to do, to avoid mortgaging the future. 

And that’s understandable.

So okay, you couldn’t create enough cap space for a big move. Why not make a small move instead and acquire a stable, depth, bottom-pairing, penalty-killing defenceman? That’s been missing all season and has cost the Canadiens plenty of goals against while shorthanded. The miss was evident immediately, as the Habs finished their road trip allowing 16 goals in three games.

Kent Hughes is still a young GM, and this is his first time managing a legit playoff team at the trade deadline, also with no cap room to work with. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. But with tons of assets throughout the system, he had the opportunity to improve even a little and decided to trust this young team to finish the season strong and see what they can do in the playoffs for the second time around.

Who knows, maybe his plan all along is to call up David Reinbacher and/or Adam Engström (when he returns from injury), add Jacob Fowler, and get Michael Hage into the lineup, creating one of the youngest, least experienced playoff teams of all time. That would be quite the sight to see.

Regardless of what happens, this team is really exciting to watch. Almost every game, they never give up and play with tons of heart and passion. No matter the result, this season should be seen as a success when it’s done, and it will be a huge learning lesson for Kent Hughes, Martin St. Louis, and the rest of the team.