NHL Rumors: 2 Canadiens Not Going Anywhere

The Montreal Canadiens are going to try and sell a number of players this season to help build for the future. Most of them are free agents next summer, but the team has also gotten interest in other players as well.

Pierre LeBrun said that there has been interest in Josh Anderson and Joel Edmundson, but Montreal doesn't want to move them. This could be for a few reasons. The first is the price just isn't where the Canadiens would like it to be. That's more so related to Anderson since he has four more years left on his deal at $5.5 million. Edmundson is a good stay-at-home defenceman who has a cap hit of $3.5 million through next season.

The other reason is that the Canadiens think they can use both of them as soon as next season if they keep them around. With Sean Monahan, Jonathan Drouin, Evgeni Dadonov, and Paul Byron all coming off of the cap for next season, the team will have ample space and doesn't need to move Anderson or Edmundson right now.

Anderson can score goals, but for his cap hit, he must produce more and play higher in the lineup. He can at least play physically if he's not producing. In 153 games since being acquired by the Canadiens, he has scored 44 goals and added 23 assists, almost exclusively at even strength.

As for Edmundson, he plays top minutes on the Canadiens' back-end and is relied on heavily defensively. He is a good veteran presence on defence with such a young group and will block a ton of shots while playing physically as well.

If a good enough offer comes their way, there's no reason to think the Canadiens won't bite on a trade.