Winnipeg Jets acquire center Sean Monahan in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens

TORONTO (AP) — The Winnipeg Jets acquired Sean Monahan in a trade Friday with the Montreal Canadiens, giving one of the top Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference more depth at center for a potential playoff run.

Winnipeg sent its 2024 first-round pick and a conditional third-rounder in 2027 to Montreal for the pending free agent. The trade comes two days since the NHL-leading rival Vancouver Canucks acquired center Elias Lindholm from Calgary.

“The teams that were in the race for Lindholm shifted to Sean,” Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said in French on a video call with reporters. "So, it accelerated things.”

Acquiring Monahan gives the Jets an elite one-two punch down the middle, after Mark Scheifele. With captain Adam Lowry and Vladislav Namestnikov already on the roster, the Jets look to have the centers to compete with anyone in the NHL.

“We believe this is a good fit,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said. "If there wasn’t a fit out there, then there wasn’t going to be a trade. We were just fortunate that timing and opportunity intertwined and we were able to make it happen.”

Monahan fills an important need because the Jets have struggled since Scheifele suffered an lower-body injury. After being atop the league in mid-January, they've lost four of six games without Schefiele, who is expected back after the All-Star break.

“You can’t replace Mark Scheifele: He’s a driver on our team and one of the leaders of our group, so you’re going to feel that over a period of time,” Cheveldayoff said. “He brings a lot to the table for us.”

Enter Monahan, a 29-year-old veteran of 760 regular-season and playoff games over 11 seasons in the league with Calgary and Montreal. He has 35 points in 49 games this season with the rebuilding Canadiens.

“He’s a mature, professional player,” Cheveldayoff said. “It just goes to kind of the theme of where we’re at this year in respect to our depth and dimension, and this just adds to it. It’s a player that the coaches can use in a lot of different ways.”

Hughes insisted Monahan's injury history did not factor into the timing of the move as much as Lindholm going to the Canucks.

“You try to understand the market,” Hughes said. “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 — not specifically Sean Monahan.”

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