Three trade options open up for the Canadiens over the weekend.

The Montreal Canadiens, and more specifically Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes, suddenly find themselves in a rather enviable position.

As far back as November there have been reports that teams around the National Hockey League have been scouting the Canadiens, specifically as it pertains to the trio of netminders that they currently enjoy. The Canadiens currently have veteran goaltender Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau all locked up and under contracts that extend beyond this season, and there is a belief that they will look to move at least one of them to continue to collect assets for their rebuild.

Over the weekend the need for quality goaltending around the league grew exceptionally with no fewer than 3 teams making major announcements regarding their goaltending.

The Seattle Kraken announced that goaltender Philipp Grubauer would be out week to week and were forced to place him on injured reserve, with no clear timeline established for Grubauer's return to action.

The Los Angeles Kings find themselves in a similar boat with the Kings announcing over the weekend that goaltender Pheonix Copley was being placed on long term injured reserve. Copley made an early exit from a practice on Friday and it would appear that he has suffered some form of relatively serious injury and will be out for an extended period of time.

The Carolina Hurricanes made something of a different move, waiving underperforming goaltender Antti Raanta over the weekend and subsequently demoting him to the American Hockey League after he went unclaimed and cleared waivers. Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen remains out of action and, although he has been cleared to resume skating, remains more than a month away from a possible return.

All of this uncertainty in goal around the NHL will likely only heighten the value of the Canadiens' wealth of assets at the goaltending position, leaving Kent Hughes in a prime position heading into the NHL holiday roster freeze.