Mark Scheifele to Montreal: the goalie twist that could reshape the trade talks

The Canadiens have checked in on Mark Scheifele, and a Montreal goalie has now entered the conversation with the Jets.

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported last Thursday that Montreal is among the teams asking Winnipeg about its veteran center. By this morning, one Habs account on X was already taking a victory lap.

Slow down. Phone calls are cheap in October.

The wrinkle is in the crease. Kypreos said adding Samuel Montembeault to a tandem is intriguing for the Jets, because they wouldn't need a goalie coming back in a Connor Hellebuyck trade.

Let that sink in for a second. The same report sketches a Winnipeg where its top center and its $8,500,000 goaltender are both potential moving pieces.

Montreal can at least talk from a position of comfort between the pipes. Jakub Dobes picked up the win in Toronto on Tuesday with a .929 save percentage.

At 29, Montembeault carries a $3,150,000 cap hit. For a club pondering life after its franchise goalie, that's a very digestible number for a 1B.

Samuel Montembeault turns into Kent Hughes' best trade chip

And the center Montreal is calling about isn't slowing down. Scheifele piled up 103 points last season, 36 of them goals.

Drafted seventh overall by Winnipeg in 2011, he has 907 points in 961 games career-wise, every one of them in a Jets sweater.

Here's the problem. His $8,500,000 cap hit runs through 2030-31, and he's 33.

Trading for that deal is like buying a cottage with five years left on the mortgage and a roof that's already survived two decades of winters.

If the price includes young pieces, it's a bad trade for Montreal. Plain and simple.

The Canadiens already pay Noah Dobson $9,500,000 and Lane Hutson $8,850,000. Stack Scheifele on top, and every summer conversation for Kent Hughes gets tighter.

Scott Arniel's Jets open their season tonight at home against Boston, coming off a 5-2 loss in Colorado in their last tune-up.

The 1-0-0 Canadiens visit Pittsburgh on Saturday, and the Penguins just blanked Philadelphia 7-0 on the road.

Then there's the calendar. Montreal plays in Winnipeg on Oct. 25, and the Jets come to Montreal on Nov. 3.

-

If these talks have legs, those games could get awkward fast. And if Kevin Cheveldayoff really wants a goalie off the board in a Hellebuyck deal, Montembeault's phone might ring first.

Also read on Markerzone.com:
Brady Tkachuk cheap-shots Macklin Celebrini then gets rocked by Jacob Trouba