As trade winds blow heavy in the NHL, talk of Drouin to Montreal comes out

It was good to see Vincent Lecavalier getting free earlier this evening, moving from Philadelphia to the Los Angeles Kings in a contract/warm body player dump trade. An outright storm played out a little while later as the Columbus Blue Jackets traded Ryan Johansen to the Columbus Blue Jackets for 2013 $4 overall pick Seth Jones.

The 2013 draft? A player was traded from that top tier of skill? And it was someone besides Jonathan Drouin? Surprising.

Thee is talk out there tonight on the Drouin front, however. Chatter on Twitter points to Montreal, Quebec and LLes Habitants De Montreal as actively and aggressively pursuing the top prospect and former QMJHL star:

BREAKING: HABS CH I can confirm from a strong source the Habs are aggressively pursuing Drouin.

— BrianWilde (@BWildeCTV) January 7, 2016

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Further 2 @BWildeCTV report-#habs were 1of2 teams to call Halifax coaches for background on Drouin within mins of trade request going public

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 7, 2016

It's both a coincidence and oddly fitting that Vinny Lecavalier got moved today; a lust by the Canadiens for Joanthan Drouin is on the same line of want that played out through Lecavalier's career in Tampa Bay. Drouin is a native Quebecois and a native/fluent francophone.

This is a complex deal to chase after and try to pull off (from the Montreal Canadiens perspective) because of the price tag being much steeper for a Atlantic Division foe.

The want is there, but it's elsewhere in the NHL, but it does open up another channel of speculation to go along with the scuttlebutt the Larry Brooks report created.