On Tuesday, Quebecers celebrated their national holiday, Saint-Jean-Baptiste. A day that has been eventful in Montreal Canadiens’ history, from the blockbuster in 2017 that was meant to solve the first center conundrum when Jonathan Drouin arrived in Montreal in return for Mikael Sergachev to Artturi Lehkonen’s Cup Final trip-clinching goal.

On that special day for the province, it felt like a good idea to list who would be featured on my Mount Rushmore of Quebec hockey players. Of course, the list cannot only include Tricolore players, but they do dominate. Without further ado and in no particular order, here we go.

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Maurice Richard

Any Mount Rushmore of Quebec-born players has got to include the Rocket. The original Richard was so much more than a hockey player; he was the idol of a people and the leader the province needed to undergo social and political changes. He empowered the people of Quebec to shine and excel in their fields. The first player to score 50 goals in 50 games, the Rocket now has a trophy named after him, which is awarded annually to the league’s top goal scorer. When he left the game, Richard was leading all players in career points with his 966 points in 978 games.

Mario Lemieux

It’s impossible not to put the Magnifique on this list. Lemieux is arguably the best player in history, and it’s impossible to know what heights he could have reached had he not had to deal with chronic back pain and cancer. When he hung up his skates for good, he had played 915 games and picked up 1723 points for a 1.88 point-per-game average, not far behind Wayne Gretzky’s 1.92 PPG average. In addition to being a fantastic player, Lemieux saved the franchise that drafted him, the Pittsburgh Penguins, twice. Once as a player and once as an owner, when you think of hockey in Pittsburgh, you think of Super Mario, even though it is now the home of Sid the Kid.

Patrick Roy

I may catch some flak for this one since Roy doesn’t lead the NHL in goalie wins, but I believe he was an absolute force on the ice, not just because of how well he played, but also because of his mental strength. There should be a picture of Roy next to the word “clutch” in the dictionary. To this day, Roy remains the only player in history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP for two different teams and to win it three times in four Stanley Cup wins, which demonstrates the significant contribution he made to those victories. Brodeur might have won three Cups, but he never was the playoffs' MVP. In his 1,029-game career, Roy has a 551-315-131 record. Furthermore, he led the Canadiens to their last two Stanley Cups; without his elite goaltending, Montreal would still be stuck on 22 Cups.

Guy Lafleur

I was torn here between Flower and Le Gros Bill, but Lafleur is the last absolute offensive superstar who wore the Sainte-Flanelle and was part of that Canadiens’ dynasty in the 1970s. When Beliveau skated into the sunset, Flower took over the torch, and although it took him a couple of years, he eventually held it high for all to see. In 1,126 games, Lafleur put up 1,353 points while Beliveau, in just one less game, put up 1,219 points. Perhaps I’m showing my age here, and I went with Lafleur because I was lucky enough to see him play; that’s a possibility, but just like Richard, Lafleur was the people’s idol. Unlike many players, he was always frank and ready to give his opinion, which is another reason why people loved him. Quebecer’s reaction to his death in April 2022 said it all…

Photo credit: Eric Bolte - Imagn Images

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With former Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner set to hit the free agency market on July 1st, no one will be surprised to hear that the Vegas Golden Knights would like to clear some cap space to make a firm offer to the 28-year-old offensive dynamo. Since joining the NHL, Vegas has had a habit of going after the big game and getting their target. Just think about Jack Eichel or Max Pacioretty when the Montreal Canadiens wanted to trade them.

Vegas has no problem moving on from big names, either. Just remember how they got rid of Marc-Andre Fleury after he posted 36 wins, a 1.98 goals-against average, and a .928 save percentage just four years after rolling out the red carpet for him at the expansion draft.

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With their sights set on Marner, the Knights need to clear cap space. They currently $9,615,000 in projected cap space with 17 of their 23 roster players signed. Two players who could be good candidates to move are centers, which could potentially interest the Canadiens, even if they could be stop-gap solutions.

32-year-old left-shot center William Karlsson has two years left on his eight-year pact, which had a $5.9 M AAV. After producing 60 points in 70 games during the 2023-24 season, there was a significant dip in his production last season, when he could only pick up 29 points in 53 games playing primarily on the Knights’ third line alongside the likes of Brett Howden, Reilly Smith, and Alexander Holtz. The fact that he missed two months of action certainly didn’t help either.

His contract includes a modified no-trade clause, according to which he can provide a 10-team no-trade list. It’s conceivable that the Canadiens could be on that list, even if it is a short one. After all, not everyone wants to play North of the border.

The price tag on his acquisition shouldn’t be too high either, after all, the Knights need to clear cap space, so they’re unlikely to be after roster players, and they have more or less given players away in the past, as seen with Logan Thompson or Pacioretty, for instance. The Habs have plenty of draft picks and prospects to trade, while Vegas only has six picks in this week’s draft and five at next year’s and no first-round pick in either year. Meanwhile, Montreal has 12 this year and nine next season.

The other possibility, which would clear even more cap space for Vegas, would be to move Tomas Hertl. The 31-year-old is also a left-shot center and has five years left on a contract with a $6.75M cap hit. He was acquired by the Knights in March 2024 and had already signed that big contract with the San Jose Sharks before being traded. The central issue, aside from the higher cap hit, is that he has a full no-movement clause, so the Canadiens would need to convince him to waive it to acquire him.

Last season, Hertl put up 61 points in 73 games playing on Vegas’ second line, and he sounds like a player who has the talent necessary to get the best out of Ivan Demidov and perhaps even Patrik Laine. However, a sizable contract with a 31-year-old that still has six years to go is quite a commitment, and chances are, the pact would hurt in the long run.

While an aging veteran with a big contract may not be Kent Hughes’ plan A to shore up his top six, the reality is that the market is saturated by buyers right now. With so few sellers, there will be plenty of disappointed sides once Summer is over.

Photo credit:  Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

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If the Philadelphia Flyers wish to move up in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Los Angeles Kings have presented them a golden opportunity to do so.

With an aging cupboard of core players, the Los Angeles Kings have traded a number of draft picks in recent seasons for the purpose of adding win-now talent.

Without a second- or fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft, the Kings are actively looking for ways to move their first-round pick, 24th overall, to patch the holes.

The Flyers, who still have six picks in the first two rounds of the upcoming NHL draft even after the Trevor Zegras trade, are in pole position to take advantage of such an opportunity. In fact, the Kings themselves think this.

In a recent interview with Zach Dooley, Kings director of amateur scouting Mark Yannetti pegged the San Jose Sharks and the Flyers as two teams his club could strike a deal with for mutual benefit.

“If you look at movement scenarios, like moving from 24 to 25, you’re very limited in your movement scenarios at 24," opined Yannetti. "Ones that make sense might be San Jose and Philadelphia, especially, would make sense. You can have too many draft picks, people are starting to realize that I think. It used to be that more is better but you’re starting to see logjams."

Yannetti is right in this assessment, at least as far as the Flyers are concerned. Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, and Tyson Foerster all spent time playing on their off-wings at varying points last season.

“It makes sense for a team like Philly or San Jose to move, and this is just me reading a situation. It doesn’t mean that they believe the same thing, but it makes sense for me,” added Yannetti. “I think the majority of teams would say in eight picks, you know, 24 to 31 or 24 to 32 you’re losing a tier. So, while we’re giving up that tier potentially, if you’re taking a 40, 45, or 48, you’re making up for losing that tier with a much higher level guy than we’d get at 88.”

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Notably, 40, 45, and 48 are all picks the Flyers have or had; the 45th pick was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks in Monday's Zegras trade.

It sounds a lot like Yannetti has a deal with the Flyers in mind at some point this week, though it's something Philadelphia would only do if and when a player they covet slides within range of a hypothetical trade with the Kings.

And that can be difficult to assess, given the Flyers themselves pick just two picks earlier at 22.

It's worth adding that there's a marked chance a deal between the Flyers and Kings could come together at some point, given the recent trade history between the two teams.

The Flyers got a 2027 third-round pick from the Kings at the NHL trade deadline on March 7 in exchange for Andrei Kuzmenko, 50% salary retention, and a seventh-round pick in this year's draft.

A little less recently, back on June 6, 2023, the Flyers received Helge Grans, Sean Walker, Cal Petersen, and a 2024 second-round pick. Walker, of course, eventually yielded Philadelphia the 22nd overall pick in this year's draft by way of Colorado.

Flyers Draft 2025: Who Are the Best (and Worst) Trade-Up Targets for Philly?With seven picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 NHL Draft, the possibilities are endless for the Philadelphia Flyers. They could use all seven picks, trade up once, trade up twice, or even trade down like they did in 2024.

As for what the Flyers might have to trade the Kings for the 24th pick, the Montreal Canadiens acquired the 21st pick from L.A. in last year's draft in exchange for Nos. 26, 57, and 198. A value equivalent for the Flyers might be this year's 31st and 48th picks.

Who the Flyers might trade up for, and at what position, remains unclear. But what is clear is that the Kings are unusually publicly congenial about the possibility.