Could The Canadiens Pick Up A Top Center From The Fallout?

Take Mark Scheifele, for instance. The 33-year-old right-shot center is 33 now and must be getting eager to win. At his age, you could expect him to be declining, but in the last four seasons, he's been on an upward trend. In 2022-23, he had 68 points. The following year, he had 72; then he went up to 87 points, and last season he reached a career high with 103 points. That's not a guy who's started to decline. In fact, his last two seasons were the two best campaigns of his career.

Should the Jets decide to hit the reset button, there's no doubt that the Montreal Canadiens would have plenty of futures to dangle in front of Kevin Cheveldayoff, but would it make sense for the Habs? It's no secret that Montreal needs another top-six center, and Scheifele certainly fits that bill. Furthermore, he's under contract for a very reasonable $8.5 million AAV, which wouldn't unsettle the Habs' salary structure and wouldn't create friction. Not that bringing in a big earner would definitely create friction, but a reasonable contract eliminates any potential risk, no matter how small.

In a vacuum, Scheifele would be a great target for the Habs, but then there's the small matter of the fact that he was the player who obliterated Jake Evans with a high elbow in the 2021 playoffs, sending him down to the ice unconscious. That made for very uncomfortable viewing for fans, and it could have had disastrous results for Evans' career. Ever since then, Scheifele has been booed copiously in Montreal, understandably. Only five players remain on the Habs from those playoffs: Evans himself, Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault and Cole Caufield. Would they be ok with acquiring Scheifele? Kent Hughes would certainly need to have that conversation with the players.