What if the Canadiens and Sharks helped each other rebuild?

Of the 32 NHL teams, the Sharks are probably the furthest along in their rebuild.

Fortunately, San Jose is counting on a guy like Will Smith and maybe one of Macklin Celebrini and Ivan Demidov, eventually.

But what the team really needs is a quality defenseman. And if they were to draft first or second, they’re not going to pass on Celebrini and Demidov to select Artyom Levshunov. At least, I don’t think so.

All this to say that the Habs need forwards (and have defensemen) and the Sharks need defensemen (and have forwards). Couldn’t the two teams help each other out?

With David Reinbacher, Logan Mailloux and Lane Hutson set to graduate soon, and a fairly young defensive core, Kent Hughes will have some decisions to make over the next few months. Right now, the team relies on a lot of defensemen. You can never have too many defencemen, but let’s not go overboard…

If Hughes can get a forward like William Eklund in exchange for a defenseman like Arber Xhekaj, among others, that would be interesting. A trade a la Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook can’t be ruled out in the near future, and I can’t wait to see if Mike Grier could be the Montreal GM’s dance partner.

San Jose isn’t overflowing with quality attacking prospects, but it has some pretty interesting assets besides Eklund, who’s already playing in the NHL.

There’s Will Smith, as mentioned earlier, who knows the Canadiens’ management well, Quentin Musty, one of Simon Snake Boisvert’s favorites, and Filip Bystedt. In Montreal, Jayden Struble, Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj could go the other way. It wouldn’t be a one-for-one deal, but it’s already a good-looking base.

Unless Hughes dares to trade Kaiden Guhle…

To be continued, then, but the situation could become clearer in early May with the lottery.

That’s when the Canadian should know his fate pic.twitter.com/bMP5F62Kmx

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) March 26, 2024

Overtime

– A pretty big comparison.

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Search “NHL on ESPN” to find THE DROP where you get your podcasts or YouTube. Bucci NCAA hockey preview too! pic.twitter.com/Cvb0rqviim

– Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) March 26, 2024