David Savard Could Be in Play for the Montreal Canadiens
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Power Play segment on Tuesday with Steve Kouleas and Craig Button and was asked about Montreal Canadiens defenseman David Savard and is there a team willing to pay the price to acquire him.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: The Montreal Canadiens Could Be Buyers and Sellers This Year
Craig Button: “I’m going to ask you about Montreal. And Steve had asked me here a little bit earlier about the Canadiens, but I want to zero in on David Savard. There’s going to be a lot of teams, as we get closer to the deadline, into the new year, they’re going to be looking for exactly that type of player, if not that player. Number one, the first part of my question, David is that something all Canadiens are willing to listen to right now? And are there teams that would be best served to jump out on that earlier rather than later?”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think, I think yes. Short answer on the first part is yes. I think Ken Hughes and the Canadiens would certainly be willing to listen now on David Savard. I think they might want to push things off to try to maximize that return later on in the season.
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I don’t know a team right now is going to make a play for him in terms of giving up a decent asset to pull it off now, versus maybe in a couple months, a lot of teams try to get ahead of at least. The trend we’ve noticed in the last few years has been teams trying to get ahead of the curve by making moves towards January, end of January, kind of zone.
Even late, like last season, I think the Bo Horvat deal that happens right before the All-Star Game, and that kind of was the first big domino to kind of drop around trade season. And I think you’re going to see potentially Savard having that opportunity for the Canadiens anyway, having the opportunity to move him a little bit earlier, maybe a month to six weeks ahead of the deadline at the beginning of March, and he’s certainly going to be a prime target.
He’s got $3.5 million cap hit. He’s on an expiring deal. The Canadiens have one retention slot left in their roster where they can add to be retained, up to 50% of the contract. So three and a half divided by two, 1.75 he’s going to be a very attractive piece.
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It’s really going to come down to the type of price a team wants to pay. When he was traded to Tampa during their run a couple of years ago, and I believe it was a three-way trade, if I’m not mistaken. I think there was additional retention on his salary. It costs Tampa first-round pick. I don’t know if the Canadiens will get a first-round pick now this season, but they might certainly push it if they’re if they’re coughing up half of that contract definitely going to be a high commodity you’re right.
And I can certainly see a team, and I think this has been suggested before out West, the Edmonton Oilers looking to add a player of his caliber to their back end later on in the season, to kind of strengthen themselves defensively, but also add a little bit of extra meat and muscle on the blue line.”
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