NHL Insider Strongly Believes Canadiens and Penguins Could Make An Important Trade Shortly

A potential Pittsburgh Penguins-Montreal Canadiens trade is heating up, courtesy of TSN's Darren Dreger, who noted the Penguins have been sending scouts to watch the Canadiens over the past few weeks.

The two teams are having underwhelming seasons thus far. The Penguins are dead last in the Metropolitan Division at 7-12-4, while the Canadiens sit dead last in the Eastern Conference at 7-11-2.

According to Dreger, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas might want to move an expiring contract, like Anthony Beauvillier, Jesse Puljujarvi, Drew O'Connor, or Matt Nieto, for a player the Canadiens no longer see in their future.

The Canadiens also have a roster logjam to navigate with injured forwards Patrik Laine and Rafael Harvey-Pinard closing in on their returns.

Laine, acquired in an offseason trade with Columbus, is projected to make his season debut sometime in December. Meanwhile, Harvey-Pinard, rehabbing a broken leg, is currently on a conditioning stint in the AHL.

That could push Canadiens GM Kent Hughes to move a body out to create space and potentially look ahead to next season.

According to Dreger, it would certainly make sense from both sides: the Penguins need bodies to try to save their season, while for the Canadiens, they get to manage their roster and perhaps accrue some value for the future.

While Dreger made it clear that no trade is close to happening, he did emphasize the rationale behind these two struggling sides discussing a trade.

Given the Penguins need to improve and the Canadiens having surplus forwards along with the cap space to add deals, it seems reasonable to speculate a trade between the two in the coming weeks.