Marc Bergevin tried his best to lower expectations for the trade deadline at his midseason press conference. What he made very clear is that he will not be dipping into his prospect pool – most notably the ones who shined at the last World Junior Championships – in order to get short-term help. Good on him.



But Bergevin has always been active this time of year and if he can add a piece that wouldn’t require him to overly mortgage the future but would help his team reach the playoffs, we’re inclined to believe he’ll do it.



Our team at The Athletic Montreal therefore decided to comb the league to find potential candidates to fill four needs we’ve identified for the Canadiens this season. This exercise, based entirely on our own speculation and not sourced information, includes some big names and some lesser ones, a former Calder Trophy finalist as well as two players who have spent most of this season in the...