With Sean Monahan’s long injury history, there is serious doubt that Montreal Canadiens general manager (GM) Kent Hughes will be able to convince anyone that he will be capable of playing in this season’s playoffs, especially if Monahan doesn’t return to play, even one game, ahead of the deadline; he’s been out with a broken foot since Dec. 5.
If Monahan is not capable of returning to health soon enough for NHL GMs to feel comfortable in trading for him, Hughes has to make a decision: let him walk away via unrestricted free agency or gamble on re-signing him to a one-year deal and try to use him as trade bait one more time.
Canadiens’ Infirmary
Monahan has 17 points in 25 games in this 2022-23 season and played a pivotal role early in the season. He was able to provide veteran leadership and stabilize the top-six, and his play proved that when healthy, he is still a valuable center.
Related: 2024-25 Canadiens Still Not a Contending Team
The Canadiens said they’d have an update on Monahan before the end of the week, but that was at the end of January, over three weeks ago. The silence on his file is more than a little concerning. Then, in mid-Feb, Monahan returned to the ice for the Canadiens in a contact practice jersey to take a regular rotation in drills on the second line. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, as he was in a non-contact jersey the very next day.
But there have been no updates, fueling speculations that his foot injury may have aggravated his surgically repaired hips, but again, that is pure speculation. What is not speculative is that he isn’t being held back for trade reasons, it is health-related, as the Habs head coach alluded to prior to the game versus the Maple Leafs.
“I don’t know, he’s kind of plateaued, and we’ll just see what next week brings.”
– Martin St. Louis
This puts the Canadiens back to square one on his file regarding the trade deadline, and with a handful of games remaining between now and the deadline on March 3, the chances of Hughes moving Monahan are slim and getting slimmer by the day.
Canadiens Trade Value
Keep in mind, the Canadiens already have a first-round pick in the Monahan file just for taking on this last season of his $6.35 million per season contract. The hope was to add more futures from this one move, which would have been a grand slam on Hughes’ part.
This trade deadline, the market is thin on centers, especially since the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues. This is why the health of the Habs’ center is such a concern, as he could provide the Canadiens with one of those highly coveted 2023 first-round picks.
The questions Habs fans have about Monahan are the same ones any team with any interest in him would have. Such as, “was it just a broken bone in his foot that he made worse when he played on it in Calgary and is now suffering a setback?” “Did this injury cause a relapse of his hip injury?” or “Will he be able to play at all this season?” With no answers being shared, teams will speculate the worst-case scenarios and avoid acquiring him as they may feel something is seriously wrong.
Canadiens’ Option to Re-sign
Letting Monahan walk away via unrestricted free agency is a good option salary cap-wise. It would open up a roster spot that could be filled by a younger player or graduating prospect. But the Canadiens would lose the leadership and experience a veteran like Monahan provides, and that is still a useful tool during a rebuild.
Here is a veteran that can play in any situation and provide a presence that can impact the team culture. He was a big part of the success the Canadiens had in the first couple of months of the season. The impact of losing him to injury was obvious, as the team’s depth and overall play were negatively impacted once he went on injured reserve. That experience helped an inexperienced group to find consistency.
Another option is to re-sign Monahan because trading him for what the Canadiens hoped to get in return is will be impossible as he remains injured. His value as a player that can help others while also helping the team remain competitive is still coveted, especially as Monahan is a veteran guy that can mentor younger players. Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN that Hughes is debating if that has enough value to retain for next season.
Even if Monahan’s main value is to provide an example to follow or to help influence the Canadiens’ biggest (pun intended) future asset, the 2022 NHL Entry Draft first overall pick, Juraj Slafkovsky. Monahan plays the style the Habs want to see from their 18-year-old forward, a straightforward yet heavy puck possession style, which is the style Monahan has played since he arrived in the NHL as an 18-year-old.
The value of holding onto someone who plays that way is worth a one-year deal. If Hughes could convince Monahan to stay at a reasonable contract value, somewhere in the $1 to $2 million range, it could give the Habs a player to guide the youth until the 2024 trade deadline, where the GM could then trade for another significant asset, that is if Monahan can remain healthy. If he can’t, then Hughes and the Canadiens fan base will have to accept that the team added a player that can help the development of the youth in the short term, all while Calgary paid Hughes a first-round pick to do so.
