Canadiens' Evans Connected To Rival & Second Team

The Montreal Canadiens might start to make some trades sooner than later with a couple of players nearing returns to the lineup. That being said, Jake Evans' name has come up in trade rumors as he is in the final year of his contract at $1.7 million AAV and is a UFA after the season.

The 28-year-old is the Canadiens' fourth line center, but is surprisingly doing pretty well offensively with four goals and 11 points in 22 games. While he's just under 50% on the draws this season, he is a career 50.9% on faceoffs, something teams take into consideration when acquiring a depth center who starts 70% of plays in the defensive zone at 5-on-5 and kills penalties.

Evans won't be expensive for teams to trade for, and according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Canadiens' rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as the Los Angeles Kings, have been connected to the player.

Evans is well on his way to surpassing his career-best 29 points set in 2021-22. His shooting percentage will regress to the mean, but teams shouldn't expect him to be producing at the pace he is at his cap hit and in his role. He plays physically and blocks a good amount of shots for a forward.

Toronto is looking for some stable pieces that can play in their bottom-6 with Ryan Reaves doing very little when in the lineup, so many injuries, and lack of consistency all around. It likely won't take more than a mid-round pick to get Evans from Montreal this season and the Canadiens should be less likely to inflate the price for a rival considering the very different places each franchise is currently in.

The Kings could also use the depth if they were to acquire Evans. The team isn't overly impressive and will hang around the playoff picture all season, but needs a deep team to be able to compete with the best in the West as there aren't superstars in LA. Evans would be another great piece to have in the mix for a spot as it would ensure a lot of options and possible combinations for the team to succeed.