Montreal Canadiens prospect Adam Engstrom took a nice step in the right direction with his development last season. In 45 AHL games with the Laval Rocket, he posted 10 goals, 34 points, and a plus-14 rating. This was after he posted five goals and 27 points in 66 games during his first season with Laval in 2024-25.
Engstrom’s strong play in the AHL also helped him get into his first NHL action with the Canadiens last season. In 15 games with the Habs last season, he posted one assist and a plus-2 rating.
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Now, Engstrom is entering this season with the hope of improving further. However, he has also found himself in the rumor mill.
In a recent article for The Athletic, Arpon Basu reported that the Canadiens are open to having trade discussions about Engstrom, but also view him as very valuable.
“It is no secret Engstrom’s name is floating around out there. Teams have asked about him in trade discussions, and the Canadiens are open to those discussions. Engstrom has yet to be traded, largely because the Canadiens see him as having considerable value,” Basu wrote.
While the Canadiens have multiple roster needs that they could look to address, including Engstrom in any trade package would come with some real risk for the Habs. The 22-year-old defenseman has the potential to become a very good defenseman later down the road. Due to this, he is a defenseman who the Canadiens could end up regretting moving if they traded him.
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At just 22 years old, Engstrom still has plenty of time to improve his game further. With that, the Canadiens would probably we wise to wait and see what the 2022 third-round pick does this season before potentially moving him.
It will be interesting to see what the Canadiens end up doing with Engstrom from here.
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