It is true that the team has too much garbage it needs to take out. But the problem is that 'garbage' currently costs a lot of money which is something other teams don't want. You can have garbage but expensive garbage is the worse type to have & to try to get rid of. The only way they'll get rid of some of their garbage is by bribing an opposing team which may agree to take some of that garbage off their hands in order to reach the cap floor. But other than Arizona are there any other teams in that category? And for a team like Arizona to accept to take on some of that garbage it will have to be a very tempting offer from the habs. Usually that would be in the form of high draft picks & prospects. But the habs are in the same boat & they likely want to hang onto their own high draft picks & prospects, whoever they are. And Arizona would naturally be suspicious if the habs offer them prospects that they're willing to get rid of since they're in the same boat as they are.
In other news it's starting to look like Carey Price will actually make a return this season. As usual he was supposed to only miss a few weeks, then it turned into months, then who knows. But he's been skating daily & has now started practicing (or has he?) according to what i've heard. The fact the team is playing better & finally competitive again must have got him interested in coming back to play this season. I can't blame him since under Ducharme there was zero incentive to come back since the team was absolutely brutal! However Martin St-Louis seems to have put some fun into playing hockey again.
The trade deadline is coming up Monday. Tampa made a big trade with Chicago earlier today, acquiring Chicago's promising young defenceman in return for two first round draft picks. These are two late round picks so the cost isn't as high as it first appears. But TB did send two young promising players to Chicago so it looks like a good trade for both teams. One's going for another Stanley Cup run & that defenceman they got will likely be there for years, while Chicago is in the same boat as Montreal & trying to rebuild & get younger. Not sure how long they'll be able to keep Patrick Kane & Jonathan Toews in the lineup. But Kane would still have good value on the market.
I'm hearing that Claude Giroux will likely be traded tomorrow morning. After having played his 1000th game last night in Philly the Flyers decided to keep him out of the lineup for tonight's game against Ottawa. Since he has a non-movement clause Giroux supposedly narrowed down his choice of destination to be Florida. Colorado was also rumoured to be included on his list earlier but he supposedly set his mind on the Panthers. But i'm hearing that tonight other teams have indicated their interest & may try to entice him & the Flyers into making a deal. Giroux could simply chose to finish the season with a contender & then spend the offseason decide where he'll play next season, which would likely be his final NHL contract & for multiple years. He's 34 but he's still a very productive player who's rarely injured. Too bad the habs have such a bad team & looking to rebuild for the next couple of years. He could have been that true #1 center that they haven't had in nearly two decades.