Rumor: Habs and Stars working on a trade involving former first round draft pick.

Stars and Habs discussing a potential deal.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: Habs and Stars working on a trade involving former first round draft pick.

It sounds like we may have a potential trade deal brewing amidst the start of training camps around the National Hockey League this week. 

Earlier today we brought you a report that revealed that former Dallas Stars first round draft pick Julius Honka had demanded to be traded following a massive stretch of healthy scratches at the end of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season. Honka has simply never managed to become a regular on the Stars roster in spite of the fact that his draft pedigree would suggest he should have been a shoe-in for such a role, but the Honka camp has been quick to lay the blame at the feet of the coaching staff in Dallas.

"I think some of the coaches in the past maybe didn’t understand or relate to him or put the time in," said Honka's agent Todd Diamond" "Some did, but I think Julius is a case of someone with extraordinary skill who needed a little more work on some elements of the game. "

"Sometimes you get that and sometimes you don’t. All coaches are different. I don’t want to put the blame completely on them for it not having worked out, but it is what it is. It’s time to move on."

This is no mere rumor either as Stars general manager Jim Nill has officially confirmed that Honka has in fact requested a trade out of Dallas. 

"Did we handle him right at times? Yes or no, we don’t know," said Stars general manager Jim Nill when asked about where things went wrong with Honka. "And it’s on the player, too. You get an opportunity, you’ve got to grab it. Sometimes, things don’t work out. There’s different personalities, but that’s sports and that’s life."

At the time of our report earlier today we did not have any indication of where Honka could potentially end up, but now two NHL insiders have provided some insight into the identity of two of the teams potentially involved in these talks. First in was Sportsnet's Eric Engels who revealed that the Habs have had talks with the Stars.

"I'm told the Habs are among a couple of teams interested, wrote the Habs insider. "Belief is that they'd be willing to make a player-for-player swap rather than give up a pick. Believe another East team in the mix."


That report has since been echoed by Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman who has identified the Carolina Hurricanes as potentially being in the mix here. 

It does not sound like Honka will be remaining in Dallas for very long.

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