A Curious Addition

With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching, there are all sorts of NHL teams already in on the action as they're making deals long before the 16-hour TV telethons on both TSN and Sportsnet kick off on Monday morning. In helpting to ruin "Trade Deadline Telethon 2022," we saw Josh Manson moved from Anaheim to Colorado and the Avalanche dealt Tyson Jost to Minnesota for Nico Sturm, but one name keeps coming up as there are as many as six teams interested in the player above known as Ben Chiarot. His name can be struck from the list of available players, though, as the Montreal Canadiens moved him to a contender in a rather odd move for that welcoming team.

The deal saw the Florida Panthers send prospect Tyler Smilanic, currently playing at Quinnipiac in the NCAA, and two picks - a 2023 first-rounder and 2022 fourth-rounder - to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Ben Chiarot's services on their blue line. The fact that Ben Chiarot was moved by Montreal shouldn't shock anyone, but it's where he's going that's a bit of a shock considering how the Panthers are built. There are no "do-overs" in the NHL, though, so let's look at this deal a little more.

From Florida's perspective, it's hard to understand why they're bringing in a guy who can legitimately eat minutes, but doesn't really upgrade the talent on the blue line that Florida currently boasts. Aaron Ekblad and Mackenzie Weegar have turned in some great efforts this season as the top pairing in Sunrise while Brandon Montour and Radko Gudas were serviceable as depth pieces on the blue line. Adding Chiarot is basically like adding Radko Gudas-lite in terms of physicality, but he's nowhere near as defensively responsible as Gudas is.

To say Chiarot has been anything beyond terrible while in Montreal colours is giving him credit that's undue. His analytics have been dreadful, he provides little to no offensive punch when he's on the ice, and he's literally been skating as a sheltered player his entire NHL career under both Dustin Byfuglien and Shea Weber. When those players left his pairing, his statistical hits were noticeable in a big way. Again, I see nothing here that makes Florida better, but I'm not the guy making this deal.

"Ben is a solid veteran defenceman that will bring both experience and size to our blue line," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said after swinging the deal. "Having reached the Stanley Cup final with Montreal last season, he is a player that knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run, which is what our organization is striving for in these next few months."

Yes, Ben Chiarot did play with Montreal who went to the Stanley Cup Final last season, but he was victimized at least twice in the Stanley Cup Final by the Tampa Bay Lightning who simply skated circles around Chiarot while scoring goals. That would be the same divisional opponent that Florida may play in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so one has to wonder why Bill Zito would add a guy to his team that did little to neutralize the very team his team needs to beat.

What they gave up to acquire Ben Chiarot might be even more of a head-scratcher when you look at the bigger picture.

As stated above, Florida sent Montreal Tyler Smilanic, a 2023 first-round pick, and 2022 fourth-round pick to obtain Chiarot's rather mediocre skill set which leaves one wondering why they were willing to pay that steep of a price for what amounts to 56 games of playoff experience. Their 2022 first-round pick is owned by Buffalo after that was swapped in the Sam Reinhart deal back in July, and now Florida has dealt their 2023 first-round pick in an effort to be all-in for the Stanley Cup this season. They won't pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft until the third round, so they better hope the scouting department is working overtime.

For Montreal, they acquired that pick and the fourth-round pick, but got Florida to add Tyler Smilanic to the deal as they coveted the 20 year-old centerman. While his statistics in the NCAA won't jump off the page immediately at you, it would seem that Smilanic is simply getting better as he matures at all of the other aspects he needs to be successful: face-offs, play without the puck, and physically getting stronger to win puck battles.

"The No. 1 thing is he's a goal-scorer," coach Rand Pecknold told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. "He puts himself in good positions to get scoring chances and then he's got that knack to finish those chances. It's hard to find goal-scorers of his ability."

He also added, "He's getting better with his details, whether it's faceoffs or defensive assignments. And a big thing he has improved on this year is his battles. He's gotten physically stronger and what I've always said to him is that when you win those 50-50 battles, we have the puck and we can go play offense. He's had a very nice natural progression in maturing and becoming more of a 200-foot player."

Smilanic likely isn't going to be in the Montreal lineup over the next season or two, but, if reality catches up with the potential given to him, Smilanic could be that prototypical centerman that all teams covet so much. If he develops that 200-foot game as Coach Pecknold is working on, the Canadiens may have stolen a gem from the Panthers. The old adage of "defence wins championships" may be true, but defensive stances are a team effort in the NHL and having a guy down the middle who is good in all three zones will benefit Montreal greatly.

Of course, those picks might also be a blessing in disguise as the Canadiens will now have 13 picks in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and have four picks in the first-round over the next two drafts. As we know, the NHL is a more youthful league today than ever before, so we'll see Les Habitants stock the cupboards nicely with all sorts of good players either by drafting or by spending picks on acquiring players.

Based on these returns for Chiarot, it would appear that the Canadiens are very well-positioned to make a charge up the standings two or three seasons from now. For his first NHL Trade Deadline, it would seem that Montreal GM Kent Hughes has done well. And perhaps there are more moves to make as we near the final deadline hours.

What's clear is that while no one will point to one player as the reason for success or failure, the devil may be in the details when it comes to the futures of these two franchises. For the Panthers, they may end up being the top team in the Eastern Conference, but it seems to be Stanley-Cup-or-bust in Sunrise as they mortgaged their future for immediate returns. Montreal, on the other hand, is content with acquiring future assets and players as they rebuild, and they seem to doing things right when one looks at their collective haul.

Nothing is written in terms of the future for either franchise, but the steep price paid by the Florida Panthers for Ben Chiarot will undoubtedly have an effect on both clubs in this season and beyond. One has to wonder why Florida made it a priority to acquire a guy who, arguably, doesn't make them better while giving Montreal all the tools it needs to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement.

The NHL Trade Deadline: where the fear of missing out is very real.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!