Pierre LeBrun: Joel Armia or David Savard could be traded, but not both

Here, by announcing that it has agreed to a long-term deal with Jake Evans, the Canadiens have lost a trade chip ahead of the trade deadline. I say “lost” because they won’t be trading Evans, but it’s understood that in reality, they’re not losing out on anything.

So, in terms of trade chips in town, the name that keeps coming up is Joel Armia. There’s also David Savard, who’s generating some buzz… but beyond that, it’s pretty quiet.

Theoretically, Christian Dvorak is also part of this list, but will the Canadiens, who already have a fragile center line, want to let Dvorak go, who probably doesn’t have immense value?

So, it’s mainly Armia and Savard who will need to be watched until Friday… and last night, on RDS, Pierre LeBrun discussed these two guys:

It’s not the Canadiens’ intention to trade both of them. It’s possible they’ll trade one or the other […] but I don’t think they’ll trade both. – Pierre LeBrun

The Canadiens are still taking calls for David Savard and Joel Armia, but don’t intend to trade both at all costs, according to @PierreVLeBrun pic.twitter.com/xcFsOunznb

— RDS (@RDSca) March 5, 2025

What we understand, then, is that if the Canadiens do make a move by Friday, the chances are very, very good that either Savard or Armia will still be in town on Saturday morning. It’s still possible that an unreal offer could change things, but the Canadiens, who are in the midst of a playoff push, don’t want to gut their team either.

That being said, there’s a world in which one of the two guys actually ends up leaving. LeBrun notes that the Canadiens are still on the phone about their two rental players and aren’t closed off to trading one of them.

The market is very favorable to sellers right now, and if we take Savard’s case, players with his profile are rare on the market. If the Canadiens have a chance to capitalize on that, they’ll at least listen.

We’ll see how everything evolves by Friday, but clearly, the Canadiens don’t seem to be aggressive sellers right now. And in the current circumstances, that’s a defensible decision.

Extension

It’s been a while since the idea of the Canadiens being both sellers (for their rental players) and buyers (for longer-term help) has been making the rounds, and LeBrun’s comments fit into that. The Canadiens don’t want to gut their team, because apparently, they want to give their group a chance to make the playoffs.

But they’re still being cautious and discussing their rental players with other teams. It’s interesting to see that right now, there’s a lot of talk about the Jets for Armia, but also for Savard.