One of the strongest parts of the Montreal Canadiens' roster is their blueline. It is no secret that they have a ton of depth on their blueline, and they only improved it this off-season by bringing in Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders.
However, with the Canadiens having so many NHL defensemen and promising prospect blueliners in their system, they are starting to create some chatter in the rumor mill.
In a recent episode of The Sick Podcast, Sportsnet's Eric Engels argued that "there's a good chance" that one of Mike Matheson, Arber Xhekaj, or Jayden Struble may no longer be with the Canadiens by next off-season to make room for prospect defensemen like David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom.
"Between those three guys, right, you have Matheson, Struble, Xhekaj," Engels said. "There's a good chance that between now and this time next year, one of those guys is not here… We know David Reinbacher is a big part of the future for the Canadiens… It's pretty vital to their plans to become a perennial contender that he starts to get some NHL games under his belt."
When looking at this list of players, Matheson stands out as the most notable. The 31-year-old has been a major part of the Canadiens' blueline since his arrival, but is also a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA). Meanwhile, there would also be some risk in moving on from Xhekaj or Struble, as they are young defensemen with good upside.
Nevertheless, it will be very interesting to see if the Canadiens end up moving on from a defenseman between now and next off-season.
Canadiens' Blueline Ranked Among NHL's BestIt is no secret that the Montreal Canadiens have a strong defensive group. They only improved upon this off-season, too, as they acquired star blueliner Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders last month.
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