The Montreal Canadiens have one of the NHL’s deepest prospect pools, as well as some of the most interesting young players. With Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky expected to remain intact to begin the 2024-25 season, the club will look to Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, Joshua Roy, or possibly outside help to cement their top two front lines. Newhook and Dach have established themselves as serviceable top-six NHL forwards as they continue to develop, but the squad appears to have a huge hole with only five really established top-six forwards (whether Newhook and Dach deserve that designation is debatable).
With several enticing forward options on the trade market such as Martin Necas, Trevor Zegras, and Nikolaj Ehlers, here are three realistic trade scenarios that would see the Canadiens acquire a quality top-six forward.