Canadiens’ Target Still A Blue Jacket, But The Door Is Open

Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire recently hosted a great episode of their Sick Podcast – The Eye Test in which they interviewed Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell. On his roster, Waddell has a player who has been reported to be a Montreal Canadiens‘ target, and he has lately said that if a deal involving the big winger makes sense for the Jackets, he would make it. That statement raised excitement in Montreal, and Murphy asked the question that needed asking: what would make sense for his team? Waddell gave a very candid answer:

Every player on my roster, for the most part, is tradeable if you get the right deal. In Kirill’s case, you know, he’s our leading goal scorer, picks up a lot of points and goals, and he’s got a great cap hit; I think it’s $3.85 million for one more year, so we can’t just take him out of our lineup and not replace that. What I’ve said all along is that we need roster players, or, in particular, one player.

– Waddell on the price tag for Marchenko

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It couldn’t be clearer that Waddell is not about to entertain a deal that would be based solely on futures here. He doesn’t want to set his Blue Jackets back years. As much as Canadiens fans would like Kent Hughes to strike a deal for Marchenko that would only cost prospects such as Alexander Zharovsky, Adam Engstrom, and a first-round pick, that’s not happening. The operative phrase in Waddell’s answer is: roster players or, in particular, one player. That’s the price tag; the GM wants someone who can step into his lineup and help his team right away. It makes perfect sense; trading away your best player for just futures would mean that the Jackets are heading back into rebuilding mode, and that’s not a message that Waddell wants to send.

Understandably, finding a fit and a trading partner for that kind of deal isn’t easy. Waddell is a realist, though; he knows he’s not in a position of force and will likely be giving up the best piece in the deal:

I’ve been on this side of a trade too many times where you are trading Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa; they were traded for each other, but Hossa and Kovalchuk- when you are trading the best player in the deal, it’s hard to make a good deal because you’re giving up the best player. You get a lot of pieces, lots of assets, but you still don’t get the best piece. So that’s our concern. Regardless of what the agent and Kirill want, he’s part of our team right now, and he’s got a great cap hit. I’m not replacing his talent and his goals at $3.8 million; that’s for sure. I’m listening; that’s all I can do as a general manager. I can’t just close it off. If something makes sense and it helps the Columbus Blue Jackets, we’ll take a serious look at it.

– Waddell on giving up the best piece in a deal

Waddell knows he’s unlikely to get a player as good as Marchenko is, but he’s certainly going to take his time to evaluate what’s on the table and pick the deal that will help his team the most. It would be a mistake to think the Canadiens are the only team interested in Marchenko. Given the fact that Hughes isn’t about to offer Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, or Ivan Demidov, there’s a real chance that another team could put a better offer on the table.

Which roster players could the Habs be willing to move? Clearly, Kirby Dach is tradeable, but Waddell is not after that kind of gamble. Dach could be a complementary piece, a throw-in at this stage, but he’s no longer a main-piece type of player. Up front, Hughes would probably entertain the idea of trading RFA Zach Bolduc, but he’s still a player with a lot of potential and a lot to prove. Could he make Waddell move? It really depends on Columbus’s evaluation of the player. Alex Newhook could be an interesting candidate, especially after the playoffs he’s had, but he couldn’t be further away from Marchenko’s playing style. Oliver Kapanen is another young player who has shown promise, scoring 22 goals and 37 points in his rookie season, but can he do it again? And can he do it away from Demidov? Those are legitimate questions.

At this stage, it sounds like the Canadiens would have to pay a real premium to get Marchenko from the Jackets because they don’t have a roster player as valuable as he is to move. Clearly, Montreal is not the only interested party either, and it won’t be easy to win that derby.

What makes things even more complicated for Waddell is the fact that Adam Fantilli still hasn’t signed either, and while the Jackets have over $12.6 million available in cap space, the centerman is likely to eat up most, if not all, of it.

The clock is ticking for Waddell if he wants to maximize the return on Marchenko with an 8-year sign-and-trade deal. From September 16, that won’t be possible anymore. The Jackets’ GM has got a lot of balls in the air at this stage, and while it won’t be easy not to drop any, he can’t afford to, not if he wants to keep his team in a position to compete for the playoffs.

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