Kent Hughes was very discreet last Friday during the trade deadline. Seeing the high price to acquire players, he preferred to wait until this summer to solidify his lineup.

The GM clearly did not want to disrupt the atmosphere in his locker room and gave his team the benefit of the doubt.

He also applied the same strategy to his organization’s farm team, the Laval Rocket, by not adding any players to help them in the final stretch of the season.

But Hughes, along with Rocket GM John Sedgwick, still has time to strengthen Pascal Vincent’s lineup.

The AHL trade deadline is on March 14, and moves can still happen.

Important Reminder:

The AHL trade deadline is next week, on March 14. Even NHL contracted players can be traded, but they will not be eligible to play in the NHL playoffs.

So, it’s not impossible for Laval to get some late reinforcements.

– Anthony Marcotte

 

Anthony Marcotte suggests an interesting idea: a trade between the Canadiens and the Rangers for Alex Belzile?

What’s interesting here is that an NHL-contracted player can still be traded to play in the AHL.

This gave Anthony Marcotte the idea of bringing back a former Rocket player to the organization, Alex Belzile.

The 33-year-old forward is currently playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack and hasn’t played an NHL game in two years within the New York Rangers organization.

It would therefore be surprising if he were called up in the coming weeks to help Peter Laviolette’s squad.

In 53 games this season with Hartford, the Quebec native leads his team in scoring with 51 points, including 16 goals.

Beyond the points, his playoff experience, having played 25 postseason games with Laval and Hartford, could be a significant asset to Pascal Vincent’s young team.

It will be interesting to follow the upcoming AHL trade deadline, as the Hughes/Sedgwick duo could add key pieces to the Laval Rocket.

 

Even though he has an NHL contract, Alex Belzile could be traded, but he would not be eligible to play for the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs, if the Canadiens were to make the playoffs.