The Montreal Canadiens may be trying to make a blockbuster trade in the immediate future after Alex Newhook and Kaiden Guhle had surgeries this past week that will force them to miss significant time. There are three National Hockey League players who have been involved in recent trade rumors. They are Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Tage Thompson. Stamkos and Marchessault are currently with the Nashville Predators and Thompson is with the Buffalo Sabres. The need for offense came to light as the Canadiens were clobbered 7-0 by the Dallas Stars on Thursday. In the loss, the Canadiens were unable to beat Dallas Stars backup goaltender Casey DeSmith. Remember, the Canadiens also do not have Patrick Laine in the lineup long term as he is out long term with a core muscle injury.
Steven Stamkos
Even though Stamkos scored the dramatic overtime winner for the Nashville Predators in the special Global Series game in Stockholm, Sweden on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 2-1 win, he has definitely underachieved in his time in Tennessee. It appears an immediate change of scenery could do all parties good.
Stamkos has been awful defensively in two seasons with the Predators, as he is a -42, and has not been offensively consistent in Nashville either. In 19 games this season, he has four goals and one assist for five points. He is a -6 with 14 penalty minutes, two power-play points, one game-winning goal, 38 shots on goal, 62 faceoff wins, nine blocked shots, 13 hits, six takeaways, and 22 giveaways. Stamkos’s assist came on October 13 in a 4-1 Predators win over the Ottawa Senators. Stamkos set up Ryan O’Reilly with five minutes and 22 seconds left in the third period and gave Nashville a 2-0 lead at the time.
Jonathan Marchessault
The addition of Marchessault may make sense here as he is from Cap-Rouge, Quebec. In 2025-26, Marchessault has not put up impressive numbers for Nashville either. In 16 games, he has four goals and two assists for six points. He is a -8 with six penalty minutes, two power-play points, one game-winning goal, four face-off wins, two blocked shots, 29 hits, three takeaways, and 24 giveaways.
The game-winning goal came on November 1 in a 4-2 Predators win over the Calgary Flames. Marchessault scored from Michael Bunting of Scarborough, Ontario, and Matthew Wood of Lethbridge, Alberta on an all-Canadian goal to put Nashville up 3-0 at the time. Bunting’s goal was on the power-play and came with five minutes and 43 seconds left in the second period.
Tage Thompson
There is a general feeling by many that the Sabres need to completely overhaul their team after being the worst team in the East and second worst team in the NHL to start the season. One player who could be dealt is centre Tage Thompson of Phoenix, Arizona. In 17 games in 2025-26, Thompson has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points. He is a -8 with 10 penalty minutes, five power-play points, 66 shots on goal, 61 faceoff wins, 11 blocked shots, 24 hits, nine takeaways, and 20 giveaways.
