Red Wings' Simon Edvinsson to Montreal for two first-round picks in trade pitch

A Simon Edvinsson trade pitch has the Canadiens sending Kaiden Guhle, Oliver Kapanen and two first-round picks to Detroit.

IceMetrix floated the mock deal Sunday afternoon, barely a day after Montreal edged the Red Wings 1-0 in a shootout on home ice.

The post ended with a simple dare. Who says no?

Montreal does. Or at least it should.

Start with what Detroit would be selling. Edvinsson is a 6-foot-6 left shot who went sixth overall in 2021.

The production hasn't caught up to the frame. He managed 25 points in 72 games last season.

That's a step back from the 31 points he posted the year before.

Oliver Kapanen is the price tag Canadiens fans should fear

Kapanen is the piece that stings. The center buried 22 goals in 82 games last season.

He did it on a $942,500 cap hit that runs through 2026-27. Cheap goals are the rarest currency in a capped league.

Montreal grabbed him 64th overall in that same 2021 draft. Edvinsson, the sixth pick, scored nine times last season.

Then there's Guhle and his $5,550,000 cap hit. He has dressed for just one of Montreal's first five games.

Moving that money has some logic. Bundling it with two firsts and a cheap 20-goal center is where the whole thing falls apart.

It's like trading your car, your snowblower and two lottery tickets for a bigger truck nobody has seen haul a load yet.

Montreal does have a real problem in its own end. The Canadiens are allowing 3.8 goals per game through a 2-2-1 start.

Michael Matheson is already a -3. Lane Hutson has four assists from the back end, but the blue line around him keeps leaking.

Shawn Horcoff would sprint to the phone. The Red Wings sit 28th overall at 1-3-1 and have dropped two straight.

Todd McLellan's group has scored only 10 goals in five games. A young center with a scoring touch would walk into a lineup starving for offense.

So why would Kent Hughes hand a division rival that kind of help?

Montreal hosts Buffalo on Tuesday while Detroit welcomes New Jersey. Neither team looks finished on the back end, and nobody outside Detroit knows what Horcoff's real asking price is.

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