I imagine Jake Allen and David Savard will have a hard time sleeping tonight.

There’s a lot of talk about the trade deadline, but in the meantime, there’s also hockey to be played.

The Canadiens’ next few hours will go as follows: the extras for tonight’s game will skate at 11:30 a.m. in Carolina, with the goaltenders. We already know that Samuel Montembeault will be on duty tonight.

What’s next? A 7 p.m. game against the Hurricanes, which will mark the end ofa trip that has been, for the moment, quite positive. And I’m not saying that for those who absolutely want a good draft pick at any price. #PourriPourCelebrini

Then the club will return to Montreal overnight. I don’t expect to see the guys skating tomorrow morning in Brossard because they’re going to come back in the wee hours of the night and they’re not going to sleep well.

They’re not going to sleep well because of the time they’ll be back, but also because the deadline is approaching. In fact, they have until 3pm tomorrow to get moving.

Anything is possible between now and then.

But Jake Allen and David Savard are likely to sleep the worst. If the third salary retention had the power to sleep and wanted to finish the season unused, let’s just say they’d sleep badly too.

Why Allen and Savard more than the others? Because they’re the two most talked-about players on the Habs right now. In fact, they’re the only two Flannel players in the DFO rankings shared by Frank Seravalli this morning.

Allen is 14th and Savard 16th. But with Noah Hanifin at #2, let me say that the Habs guys are now 13th and 15th in Seravalli’s trade target .

Obviously, there are other names floating around (Jordan Harris, Joel Armia, Johnathan Kovacevic and Tanner Pearson, among others), but I have a feeling that Allen and Savard are the most likely to leave.

Don’t get me wrong: that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen… but there are chances, as I’m sure you’re well aware by now.

To trade Savard, who is the player most likely to leave in the eyes of Eric Engels (that was the case on Tuesday night, at the very least), a club will have to offer the moon in the eyes of Kent Hughes.

Will the fact that several defensemen have been traded create a sense of urgency in the eyes of the other GMs? Or, on the contrary, will the price obtained for other defensemen dampen the spirits of the Habs, who may not get their price for a defenseman they want to keep by tomorrow?

As for Jake Allen, what could help the Habs is the fact that several goalies could stay put. A club that definitely wants reinforcements could therefore pick up Allen, if need be.

And that’s even if he’s not in the running for goalie of the year, let’s say.

Allen and Savard won’t get much sleep between now and tomorrow, in my opinion. But if they’re not traded by tomorrow, maybe by Friday night they’ll be sleeping like babies.

There’s still about 30 hours of stress.

In gusto

– Max Pacioretty in Florida?

– Deadline: choices must be made. [98.5 Sports]

– It’s not just Jake Guentzel to watch.

– Alexandre Carrier traded?

– Gabriel Landeskog skates at 75% of his ability.