The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Montreal Canadiens were among the busiest teams as they launched full-scale into Kent Hughes’ vision of a rebuild. Traded away were Tyler Toffoli and Ben Chiarot in pre-deadline moves, and also out the door were Andrew Hammond, Artturi Lehkonen, and Brett Kulak.
The Toffoli and Chiarot trades focused heavily on bringing back futures in the form of draft capital (namely two first-round picks), and a pair of prospects. Those two prospects in the form of Emil Heinemann and Ty Smilanic are not meant to be immediate impact pieces but future additions in a couple of years when they’re ready for the NHL.