It’s August. We’re in the middle of the most dead period on the hockey calendar. Sure, Nikita Grebenkin got re-signed so there is at least something related to the Philadelphia Flyers to talk about, but we’re firmly in a time where we are just sitting here and waiting and thinking about training camp starting in over a month.
So, why not think of some possible transactions?
The Flyers might not make some trades before the season starts, but there could certainly be something going on...
Kent Hughes keeps pushing back his own deadline. Montreal Canadiens general manager told reporters after the trade deadline that a deal was coming, just not on any fixed schedule. "He said it could be July. That didn't happen. Could be August. He said it could be September. It could be October. It could be November," the outlet reported, before adding Hughes' own framing of the situation.
"There's a lot of things that can still happen between now and the start of the season," Hughes said, ac...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Five players who should improve on their 2025-26 performance. [ Journal de Montreal ]
Lane Hutson is projected to take over as the league’s top defenceman within the next five years. [ NHL.com ]
Hutson and Ivan Demidov have arguably the two best-value contracts in the NHL. [ Sportsnet ]
Signing so many players to maximum-length contracts is something the Canadiens have in common with the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes. [ RDS ]
...
Patrik Laine remains one of the top options on the UFA market for teams looking for an offensive boost for their lineups. The seven-time 20-goal scorer and former 2nd overall pick in the NHL Draft will have to take a massive pay cut, as he's coming off his $8.7 million AAV contract. The Montreal Canadiens don't seem the least bit interested in bringing him back, after Laine played just five games for them last year, due to injury, and then their reluctance to add him back to the roster f...
Things have gone quiet recently on the Vladimir Tarasenko front on the free agent market. The UFA has been linked to several teams throughout the offseason, from the incumbent Minnesota Wild, to the Edmonton Oilers to the Ottawa Senators. Now we can add another Canadian team to the mix, as Jimmy Murphy and Shayne Gaumond speculated on The Sick Podcast this week that the Montreal Canadiens would be a perfect fit for the nine-time 20-goal scorer. Should the #GoHabsGo give...
In today’s NHL rumors rundown, Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic could be an interesting pairing for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens remain patient as trade…
The Montreal Canadiens have made it rather clear: their goal is to draft players who will be able to bring […]
As we get into the dog days of summer and until training camp, thesickpodcast.com will profile Montreal Canadiens players based on their expected role for the 2026-27 NHL season. Montreal Canadiens superstar Lane Hutson will be entering his third year in the NHL during the 2026-27 season, and we’ve yet to see the best of […]
The post Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Lane Hutson appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
Welcome back to The Contrarian, the feature where you state the obvious and then I tell you why you’re wrong. It’s been over a year since we’ve done this, because I forgot I’ve been waiting for you to come up with some worthy challenges. But with Slow News Summer crawling along, this is as good a time as any for me to do what modern sports media is apparently supposed to do best: Argue loudly and aggressively for positions I may or may not actually believe in.
>> Read the full post for free...
It’s getting dangerously close to where the Montreal Canadiens have to win it all to meet expectations. What should be the goal in 2026-27?
There comes a time in every meticulously planned rebuild when a general manager (GM) has to look at his board, swallow hard, and consider trading away something that genuinely hurts…
Introduction
The past couple of years this has mostly been an extension of the Top 25, with too many players showing NHL ability to fit into the official countdown. With the six graduating NHLers, the quality isn’t quite the same this year, and more in line with what this section of players has usually been: skaters with an NHL skill or two but not the full set required to crack a roster, and some unproven goaltenders.
Every one of the nine players we’ll profile here did receive at l...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
The Xhekaj story, from refugee roots to NHL dreams. [ Instagram – UNHCR ]
Three players who could surprise at training camp. [ The Hockey Writers ]
Will Ville Koivunen’s contract impact the Zachary Bolduc negotiations? [ Journal de Montreal ]
WHL players and alumni within the Canadiens prospect pool. [ WHL ]
Around the league and elsewhere
The Pittsburgh Penguins gave Koivunen a stunningly unnecessary eight-year, $32 million...
The Montreal Canadiens are always looking for diamonds in the rough, including when they selected L.J. Mooney with the 113th […]
With training camp just a few weeks away, most NHL rosters are close to being finalized. That doesn’t mean teams are done adding players. Every year, several veterans and NHL…
The Montreal Canadiens are still in the market for a top-six scoring forward; could veteran Vladimir Tarasenko be a fit? Tarasenko had a solid year with the Minnesota Wild last season, where he scored 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games. It was a great bounce-back season after having just 11 goals and 33 […]
The post Montreal Canadiens Potential UFA Target: Vladimir Tarasenko appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
The Montreal Canadiens have been quite aggressive when it comes to moving up at the NHL Entry Draft, a strategy […]
Training camp is one of the most exciting times of the NHL calendar. While most roster spots are already spoken for, every year a handful of players exceed expectations and…
Get ready to start your day with the latest and hottest Montreal Canadiens news, plus NHL trade and free agent rumours from around the hockey world! Here are your Sick Puck Links for today: Sick Links Nick Lariviere continues his offseason Montreal Canadiens Expected Role Profiles focusing on Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble. Sources have confirmed […]
The post Sick Puck Links: Canadiens And MacKinnon? Red Wings GM; NHL Trade Rumors appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
Introduction
Getting closer to the top players in the organization, we find a group that is neither on a track to play in the NHL nor appearing hopeless to do so. These prospects have generally performed better than those we just discussed as Long Shots, with a larger base of skills to work with.
Three of the players are from the 2026 NHL Draft class, but there is an equal number of off-season additions for the Laval Rocket. In both cases, they are new players to the project, which t...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Players worth considering if Kent Hughes is serious about accelerating the rebuild. [ The Sick Podcast ]
Unrestricted free agent Patrik Laine could be a fit for teams looking to add offence without breaking the bank. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Cole Caufield is getting some well-deserved recognition, coming in ninth in the NHL Network’s ranking of wingers. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Noah Dobson is the third Canadiens player to become a...
Much has been made about the fact that the Montreal Canadiens are yet to re-sign defenceman Arber Xhekaj. The 25-year-old […]
The Canadiens continue to be a feel-good story all around. However, there are five moments that stick out in 2025-26:
As we get into the dog days of summer and until training camp, thesickpodcast.com will profile Montreal Canadiens players based on their expected role for the 2026-27 NHL season. There will be a tough internal battle for the sixth defenseman spot at Montreal Canadiens training camp in September and defenseman Jayden Struble could have the […]
The post Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Jayden Struble appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
We’ve reached the No.12 player in our annual Montreal Canadiens prospect ranks, as voted on by Habs fans: defenceman Bogdan […]