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Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens – Perfect Trade Partners?

By William Espy

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 07: Montreal Canadiens Assistant Captain Right Wing Brendan Gallagher (11) bows his head late in the game, down 2 goals during the final NHL 2018 regular-season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 7, 2018 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON., Canada. The Canadiens lost 4-2 and finished with the NHLs 28th-best record, and 40 regulation losses. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 07: Montreal Canadiens Assistant Captain Right Wing Brendan Gallagher (11) bows his head late in the game, down 2 goals during the final NHL 2018 regular-season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 7, 2018 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON., Canada. The Canadiens lost 4-2 and finished with the NHLs 28th-best record, and 40 regulation losses. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Columbus Blue Jackets need to add more scoring forwards and the Montreal Canadiens are looking for a player who can play center or defense. Are the two a perfect fit?

The Columbus Blue Jackets need to get better. The top two lines are projected to consist of Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson, Josh Anderson, Alexander Wennberg and Boone Jenner according to Roster Resource.

While the first line is great, the second line seems more like a third line except for Josh Anderson. Montreal recently traded Alex Galchenyuk to Arizona in exchange for Max Domi and with Marc Bergevin trading away players at a cheap price, Columbus should try to take advantage.

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The obvious choice to go after would be Max Pacioretty if the Blue Jackets are looking to try to win the Stanley Cup this year, however that would be another unrestricted free agent at the end of the season when they’ll already be in a cap crunch. If they can get him cheap enough, Pacioretty would certainly be worth adding however he’d likely be more of a trade deadline move rather than an off-season move.

The player the Columbus Blue Jackets should keep an eye on is Brendan Gallagher. Gallagher is essentially a smaller, faster, more irritating and more consistent Boone Jenner when it comes to point production. He annually puts up 40 to 47 points when healthy and he’s coming off of his first 30 goal season of his career when he had a career high 54 points.

It’s also worth noting that he put up his career high in points on a Montreal Canadiens team that finished fourth last in the league. On top of that, he has three years remaining on his contract at $3.75M according to Capfriendly.com.

When it comes to the defensive side of Gallagher’s game, he had 90 hits, 41 blocked shots and 42 takeaways compared to 27 giveaways. He’s an agitator who drives his opponents mad not only with on ice antics, but with his skill on both sides of the ice.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets need to make a deal with the Montreal Canadiens, whether now or at the trade deadline. Max Pacioretty would be an all in for this season move, however Brendan Gallagher is certainly an upgrade to the top six for the long term.

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