The Canadiens will not trade either of their two primary goalies before the NHL Trade Deadline, general manager Kent Hughes said Thursday.
Jake Allen, who is returning from a lower-body injury sustained Jan. 12, and Sam Montembeault have started most of the games with Carey Price having not played this season because of a knee injury.
"We're still in a period of uncertainty with Carey and I think that's where we'll be until we see him play in one or several games and we know that his knee has recovered properly," Hughes said. "In the meantime, as for the goalies, Jake and Sam, they're part of the organization and we have no plans to trade a goalie right now."
Montreal traded defenseman Ben Chiarot, who could have been an unrestricted free agent after the season, to the Florida Panthers for forward Ty Smilanic, a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft on Wednesday.
Hughes said the Canadiens (16-36-8) are not cleaning house despite having the fewest points in the NHL (40).
"In terms of identifying players and we want to move on from, I don't want to say that we're looking to move on from specific players right now," he said. "If anything, if we get phone calls on the trade that will make sense for us, we'll definitely consider it. I've said it before, I've told the players we're not looking to make a fire sale here and we've tried to reassure them."
One player Hughes said could be traded is defenseman Jeff Petry, who has three years remaining on the four-year contract he signed Sept. 25, 2020. The 34-year-old has scored 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 53 games this season and is averaging 22:30 of ice time per game.
"If it's a deal that makes sense for us, and if it makes sense for Jeff and Jeff knows that," Hughes said. "I've spoken to him about it."