Joel Armia is thrilled he will be in the Canadiens’ lineup Saturday in Calgary against the Flames (7 p.m., SNE, City, TVA Sports).
So is Christian Dvorak and David Savard.
The three veterans, who can become unrestricted free agents on July 1, weren’t moved to another team by Canadiens GM Kent Hughes ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline. If the Canadiens hadn’t gone 5-0-1 in their last six games — moving within one point of a wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference — that probably wouldn’t have been the case.
Hughes didn’t make any moves on trade-deadline day. Instead, the GM decided to keep the team intact and reward the players who have battled hard to stay in the mix for a playoff berth, which was management’s goal at the start of the season.
When Hughes met with the media in Brossard after Friday’s trade deadline passed, he said he would put the future contract status of Armia, Dvorak and Savard on the “back-burner” now, realizing he might lose them as free agents. If all three players leave as free agents, that would free up US$11.35 million in salary-cap space for the Canadiens.
Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported Hughes was offered a second-round draft pick in exchange for Armia, but turned it down.
“It was stressful,” Armia told reporters in Calgary about the trade deadline after the Canadiens practised Friday. “But just tried not to think about that. We have the game and practice today, so there isn’t much room to think about stuff like that. It’s been stressful, but I had stuff to do here, so I couldn’t think about it the whole time, which is nice.
“I think it’s a special group,” Armia added about the team. “I think we showed with our game what we can do and we’re having a lot of fun together playing hockey. So, yeah, I’m really happy. … I love the team, love my teammates. I love to be here and play hockey in Montreal. It’s a good thing for me.”
Staying in Montreal is also a good thing for Dvorak.
“It’s going to be exciting to try to get in the playoffs here,” Dvorak told reporters Friday in Calgary. “I think you could tell by the way we were playing we wanted to keep this team together and give ourselves a chance here at playoffs. We like the way we’re playing right now. We’re a confident group and we’re definitely all happy we kept everyone together here.”
The Canadiens haven’t made the playoffs since advancing to the Stanley Cup final in 2021 and losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dvorak joined the Canadiens the next season after former GM Marc Bergevin acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a first-round pick at the 2022 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in 2024.
“My first three years here we haven’t really had a chance at the playoffs,” Dvorak said. “So I’m really excited for that opportunity here. We have to have a good last 20-21 games, whatever we have left, and it would be really fun to play in the playoffs with the Canadiens. So I’m excited to hopefully do that.”
The Canadiens have 20 games remaining in the season. They will wrap up their four-game road trip with games in Vancouver against the Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m., TSN2, RDS) and Wednesday against the Kraken in Seattle (10:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
Veteran centre Jake Evans is also happy to still be with the Canadiens after signing a four-year, US$11.4-million contract extension on Tuesday that has an annual salary-cap hit of US$2.85 million. Evans, who could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, is earning US$1.7 million this season.
“Everyone in here is really happy,” Evans told reporters in Calgary on Friday. “The guys that were in those (trade) rumours are big parts of the team and great teammates and great people. I think it sends a message that we’re ready to take that next step and push for the playoffs.
“We’re a close group here,” Evans added. “We feel like we’re building something pretty special. I can’t speak for the other guys, but I wanted to be a part of it. At least I know a few of them, obviously, wanted to stick around here, too. We have a lot of belief in this group and we wanted to stick together and see how this plays out.”