The Montreal Canadiens have checked in with Winnipeg about Mark Scheifele, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported Thursday.
An inquiry isn't a deal. But the Jets centre just posted 103 points in 82 games, so Montreal picking up the phone makes plenty of sense.
The climb is what grabs a front office. He went from 72 points in 2023-24 to 87 the following season, then blew past triple digits.
That haul included 36 goals and 67 assists. Slot that behind Montreal's top line and opposing coaches suddenly need two shutdown plans on every road trip.
Kent Hughes doesn't have to rush anything. The Canadiens have rolled through preseason at 3-0-0, most recently edging Ottawa 3-2 on Monday night.
The price is where this gets messy. Kypreos reported the cost could involve Michael Hage, one of the organization's top centre prospects.
And that's a bad idea. Moving your best young centre for a 33-year-old signed through 2030-31 is how a patient build quietly turns into a regret.
Connor Hellebuyck decision could force the Jets into a reset
The bigger domino sits in the Winnipeg crease. Kypreos reported the Jets are weighing what a Hellebuyck trade would mean for the entire organization.
The goaltender and the centre carry identical $8,500,000 cap hits. That's $17 million tied to two franchise pillars on a club that might be rethinking its timeline.
If Hellebuyck goes and futures come back, keeping an aging first-line centre gets harder to justify. Selling high starts to look like the smart play.
Think of it like listing a house right after the kitchen renovation. Winnipeg will never find a better market for him than the one following a career-best season.
Scott Arniel's club hasn't exactly sparkled this fall, sitting 1-1-1 in preseason after falling 2-1 to Edmonton beyond regulation on Tuesday.
Scheifele holds leverage of his own, too. He must approve any trade this season under his no-movement clause.
So what does Montreal actually get? A centre with 907 points over his NHL career and a résumé that includes 49 points in 53 playoff games.
The plus-minus history is less flattering. He finished at 0 last season, and went minus-17 and minus-16 in back-to-back years before that.
The schedule adds a strange wrinkle. Montreal visits Winnipeg on October 25, then hosts the Jets on November 3.
Nothing moves until Winnipeg decides what it wants to be. And if the Hellebuyck call breaks a certain way, Hughes could be staring at a No. 1 centre nobody expected to hit the market.
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Should the Canadiens include Michael Hage in a Mark Scheifele trade?
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