Montreal Canadiens' Sean Monahan (91) skates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. The Canadiens have traded centre Sean Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a first-round pick and a conditional draft pick, according to multiple media reports.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Gene J. Puskar

MONTREAL - Injuries have plagued Sean Monahan's career, but the Winnipeg Jets are confident in his ability to stay healthy.

The Montreal Canadiens traded Monahan to the Jets on Friday in exchange for a first-round pick in this year's NHL draft and a conditional third-round pick in 2027.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff downplayed concerns about Monahan's durability, saying that every player faces the possibility of injury.

"Players get injured that's the nature of the game," he said.

"You ask as many questions as you can, you get as much knowledge as you can, you weigh the risk/reward and if you choose to go for it, you go for it."

It's the second time that Monahan has secured a first-round pick for the Habs.

Montreal acquired Monahan and a conditional first-round draft pick in 2025 from Calgary on Aug. 18, 2022, for future considerations, allowing the Flames to shed Monahan's US$6.375-million cap hit at the time.

Calgary subsequently signed centre Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49-million deal in free agency.

Monahan is a pending unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year, US$2-million contract with the Canadiens last off-season.

The 29-year-old from Brampton, Ont., has 13 goals and 22 assists in 49 games this season.

Cheveldayoff said he's looking for Monahan to bring a strong presence to the faceoff circle as well as its defensive back end

"He's a real professional and one of the strengths he does have is faceoffs," said Cheveldayoff.

"It'll help the other guys as well because sometimes in games when faceoffs are going in the wrong direction, all it takes is one guy to tip it the other way."

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes refuted suggestions that Monahan's injury history was a reason why the deal was done well before the March 8 trade deadline.

"Any time you go through this process you try to understand the market you try to understand who is or may be interested in the services of, in this case, Sean Monahan, what the upside would be and you measure that against the risk of any player," said Hughes.

"I don't have any specific concern in relation to Sean. If I did we wouldn't have signed him."

Monahan produced six goals and 11 assists over 25 games with the Canadiens in 2022-23 before his season was cut short with a groin injury. He then re-upped in Montreal after his previous contract expired.

Hughes said Monahan's departure is tough, but he has high hopes a group effort will fill the void.

"I don't think one player replaces Sean Monahan when we look at the different ways he contributed to our team," said Hughes. "We're going to be looking for the group as a whole to step up. I think that's part of a process of a group maturing and growing … it's part of a young group starting to take ownership of their future and of this team."

Selected sixth overall by the Flames in the 2013 draft, he played nine seasons in Calgary and exceeded 30 goals three times — including a 34-goal, 82-point campaign in 2018-19.

Monahan scored just eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 65 games during his final season with the Flames, which ended early when he underwent hip surgery.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024