Report: Bruins Could Be Looking Into Sean Monahan

Are the Boston Bruins eyeing Montreal Canadiens forward Sean Monahan on the NHL trade market?

As it is throughout the league, the injury bug is starting to ravage the Boston Bruins. With a grinding schedule about to get even harder, this could be the case going forward for the Bruins and multiple NHL teams. That’s why, with the March 8 NHL trade deadline less than two months away, NHL trade chatter is starting to pick up as teams are finalizing their wish list and know the holes they need to fill. While the Bruins, by all accounts, are still looking for a top 6 center, they’re also apparently honing in on some middle six scoring, whether at the center or wing positions.

In the latest TSN Insider Trading episode, TSN NHL Insider Darren Dreger reported that the Montreal Canadiens are ramping up their efforts to trade potential 2024 unrestricted free agent forward Sean Monahan. Dreger also listed the Bruins as a team that could be interested in the 29-year-old Canadiens forward, who is on a one-year, $1.98 million contract.

“No different from any other year, there are teams looking for centremen and depth at that position – or a top-two or top-three centreman,” Dreger said. “We’re looking at Colorado. We’re looking at Boston, the Edmonton Oilers, maybe even the Washington Capitals if they stay in the mix leading up to the trade deadline. Twenty-nine-year-old Sean Monahan of the Montreal Canadiens is healthy, and he is having a decent year.

You gotta go back to the off-season and when the Canadiens signed the veteran forward. They had an agreement that said we will trade you when the time is right to a contending team or a team of your choice. Nothing has changed there. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Monahan was among the first forwards to get dealt before the deadline.”

The Bruins are limping back east as they play their final game on a four-game road trip against the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night before finally returning to Boston to play the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden in a 1 p.m. ET MLK Day matinee on Monday. While on this trip, the Bruins have lost goalie Linus Ullmark (lower-body), defenseman Brandon Carlo (upper-body), and rookie center Matthew Poitras (shoulder) to injuries. Carlo is now on injured reserve, and Ullmark and Poitras aren’t expected to play on Saturday. With the physical demands of the NHL clearly catching up to Poitras, the read here is that Sweeney wouldn’t mind adding some more veteran depth in the middle six at a low price, and the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Monahan, who has 11 goals and 13 assists in 41 games, fits the bill.

For those who say the Bruins will never trade with their biggest rival, the Canadiens, it’s a different sports world now, and if the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees can hook up in a big trade, so can the Bruins and Canadiens.