Even with the Canadiens out for several days, the team’s management is working hard to prepare for the close of trading that is slowly approaching.

During his appearance on Wednesday’s show La Poche Bleue le midi, Joël Bouchard said the case of Joel Edmundson should be given priority by Kent Hughes. According to the analyst, the Canadiens’ defense attorney could make a lot of money in a potential transaction.

“Edmundson, I need him to go. It’s not that I don’t like it, but its value is very high. In my opinion he is the first to go.

The former Laval Rocket driver also doesn’t expect the Montreal team’s next moves to really impact the team’s performance. He believes the organization’s hungry young players can make up for the loss of veterans.

“Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton are in vogue to clean up a bit, but it’s not easy. That being said, they’ll probably end the year better than you think because the kids will get called up and the other teams will take them lightly.”

On the subject of youth, Bouchard wanted to send flowers to Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who scored two more goals against the Senators on Tuesday.

“Right from the start he showed me what I think of him. For a player this young, it’s good to be able to step up your game after an average game start. But that doesn’t surprise me. It’s decided for Harvey-Pinard, he’s a hockey player. Let him play and we’ll see what happens in the end. He could be on the power play and he wouldn’t be any worse than other guys that are there, I can tell you that right now.

Check out the segment in question in the video above.