Insiders: Canadiens Could Super-Charge A Trade Return With This Package

There are a few Montreal Canadiens on trade boards around the league, and names like Jake Evans and Joel Armia have been front and center on the rumor mill. What could each of them fetch on the trade market?

The better question, perhaps, as posed by Arpon Basu in The Athletic recently, is what if GM Kent Hughes doubled his pleasure with a trade package including both?

If Hughes were, for instance, to put Evans and Armia on the market as a package deal, the best penalty-killing forward duo in the NHL, who knows how rich of a price he could command?

As insider Marco D'Amico noted on The Shaun Starr Show, "I think it would be a first-round pick PLUS, if the two were traded together.

"It was a brilliant suggestion by Arpon Basu, and when you do the math it makes even more sense."

While Evans has a $1.7M cap hit, Armia's is twice that, at $3.4M. But D'Amico suggests that with a 50% retention on Armia, the total cost on a pro-rated basis for a team on the receiving end for the last 20 games or so of the season, would be about $850,000.

This idea, and any other trade offers, all depends on whether the Habs are able to sign Evans to an extension, as talks are ongoing. But the 28-year-old, having a career season, likely has this one big shot to land himself a nice contract, whether with Montreal or on the free agent market.

"So if you're Jake Evans, this is it... You can't afford to fumble it," says D'Amico.

Evans already has personal bests with 11 goals and 27 points with a +2 rating, while Armia is having another nice season as a premium two-way player, with 10 goals and 24 points with a +1 rating.