Tight ranking: bad news for the Habs on the trading market

Dose
Crédit: (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Tonight, the Flyers will be in town.

If the Canadiens win this game, they could become the first NHL team to reach the 10-win plateau. That’s no mean feat, let’s face it.

And if the stars align, Montreal could also be at the top of the NHL standings.

(Credit: NHL.com)

Because, yes, the standings are the talk of the town these days. As we mentioned yesterday, all Eastern clubs are playing for at least .500 since the start of the season.

Four clubs (Canadiens, Devils, Red Wings and Penguins) in the East have 18 points… and the other 12 have between 15 and 13 points. It could hardly be tighter than that, let’s face it.

And of necessity, that’s going to affect the trade market.

Questioned on the subject this morning on BPM Sports, Renaud Lavoie affirmed that, yes, the fact that no one is out of the race right now will have an effect on the transaction market.

Obviously, some clubs are going to go under later than expected – and yesterday’s Penguins game was an excellent reminder of that. Everyone agrees on that.

That said, it was expected that several clubs would sell very quickly to improve their chances of getting Gavin McKenna. And now, the ranking changes the game.

The effect this will have, then, is that some selling clubs will put the brakes on in the short term.

For the Canadiens, who were unable to get their hands on a second-line center this summer to back up Nick Suzuki, this will undoubtedly postpone the moment when Kent Hughes gets his way.

Is it the end of the world? No. After all, it slows down the market for the Canadiens, but it’s also true for the other teams in the Eastern race.

But it’s something to keep an eye on.

overtime

– Read more.

– I hope Anthony recovers.

– The question is: Does Jared Davidson deserve a recall? Me, I’d go with the Unicorn, in case of a recall.