Leading up to Monday’s trade deadline, Ben Chiarot was on a lot of teams’ radar that included the Oilers, Flames, Blues, and even the Panthers.
Wednesday evening would put an end to the Ben Chiarot trade saga as the Montreal Canadiens agree to trade Ben Chiarot to the Florida Panthers in exchange for prospect Ty Smilanic, 2023 1st round pick & 2022 4th round pick. Montreal also retains half of Ben Chiarot’s 3.5M salary.
Frank Seravalli adds that the 4th round pick in the deal is for Montreal to retain 50% of Chiarot’s salary.
Ben Chiarot is known as a defensive defenseman and has a playstyle that resembles playoff-like, which, for a team that is looking at a deep playoff run, could benefit from adding Chiarot.
Something that may go unnoticed in the trade is how there is no protection on the 2023 1st round pick, which means no matter what happens to the Panthers next season, it’s Montreal’s pick. For Canadiens fans, they are probably hoping it’s in the upper echelon of the draft in 2023.
I’m not going to act like I know a lot about Ty Smilanic. I can tell you that Kent Hughes & Jeff Gorton knew a lot about him since he’s the same age as a couple of their sons. Jack Hughes, Kent Hughes’ son, plays for Northeastern in the NCAA, and there may be a possible connection there since Northeastern did play against Quinnipiac.
For more information, please check out the interview I did with Ty Smilanic *prior* to the 2020 NHL Draft: https://youtu.be/QVUwk7SUUaA
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