Welcome to Montreal, Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson and Bo Horvat

The Habs are looking for a center, so you know the drill: all potentially available players will be photoshopped with a Montreal jersey on their back, until Kent Hughes makes his move.

You might as well laugh, right about now. Welcome to Montreal, Mathew Barzal and/or Bo Horvat.

That said, there’s nothing more normal than the exercise – especially when a GM who stubbornly insisted on staying in the mix/no man’s land is fired and good players could be shopped around by the new boss .

With Lou Lamoriello’s departure, expect a wind of rebuilding for the Islanders and, in turn, center players like Horvat and Barzal could become bargaining chips in the team’s rejuvenation. Kent Hughes will be on the lookout. Center#2 pic.twitter.com/Oe4hXJDeCW

– David Ettedgui (@EttedguiDavid) April 22, 2025

Excluding the fact that he speaks French, Barzal is automatically an interesting candidate by virtue of the fact that he’s a 27-year-old center and his contract isn’t outrageous, at $9.1M per year until 2031.

One thing I didn’t put in the Barzal piece: he’s fluent in French. He thinks his parents put him in French immersion as a kid in Coquitlam, B.C., because his dad secretly hoped he might play for the Habs one day

– Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 1, 2017

However, I see two impediments to a possible barter involving Barzal and the CH.

On the one hand, will the Habs be willing to sacrifice important pieces of their future for a player who has missed a total of 126 games in his last six seasons, and has only played 30 games this season? On the other hand, will the Islanders’ new GM consider Barzal’s value to be less than his peak, following a decent start to the season of 20 points in 30 games and a season-ending injury?

In the end, Barzal still has 462 points in 530 NHL games. He’s one of the league’s elite, and aside from 2024-2025, he’s averaged 71 games a year since the start of his career.

To stay in center ice, Bo Horvat would be another option to consider – cheaper in terms of market value, but almost as much in terms of dollars ($8.5M/year until 2031). Horvat is a bigger, more responsible center, weighing in at around thirty pounds, but he packs quite a bit less offensive punch… when left to his own devices. 54 games in 46 games with Elias Pettersson, sound familiar? In any case, he’s got the makings of a guy who brings a lot more than just stats to the table.

What would be the price to pay? It’s hard to say. But the CH could probably afford one or the other, and Kent Hughes is ready to move.

Ivan Demidov needs a center, and he’s in a hurry.

Extension

It was one of the topics of February:

Could a hostile offer be made to Noah Dobson this summer?
Noah Dobson changes agent before deadline!
Islanders store Noah Dobson!

Will the new staff want to part with a 25-year-old defenseman who scored 70 points last year, and whose best years are ahead of him?

I doubt it… But welcome to Montreal, Noah Dobson!