The NHL offseason rumour mill never truly sleeps, but it kicked into overdrive on Tuesday when a photo began circulating online showing a very familiar face sitting inside Montreal's Trudeau airport : Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers.
According to reporter Maxime Truman, who first shared the image, Beniers was seen at the Montreal airport early Tuesday morning. The photo quickly spread across social media, igniting a wave of speculation about whether the 23-year-old forward could be headed to the Canadiens.
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On the surface, there is reason for Habs fans to get excited. Beniers checks a lot of boxes for what Montreal reportedly needs. He is a 6-foot-2, left-handed center who has posted back-to-back 50-point seasons. His contract carries a cap hit of $7.14 million per year and runs for another five seasons, with no trade protection kicking in until 2030.
That profile would slot neatly into a Canadiens roster that general manager Kent Hughes has been working to reshape.
But before anyone gets too carried away, there are some important caveats.
Marco D'Amico offered a dose of cold water on the speculation, noting that a player without trade protection would not typically be scouting out a city ahead of a deal. He added that Seattle has reportedly held firm that Beniers is not available unless an offer comes along that is, in his words, "absolutely bonkers."
It is also entirely possible that Beniers was simply passing through Montreal on a layover or visiting for personal reasons completely unrelated to hockey. The American-born forward has no known direct ties to the city.
Still, the timing is hard to ignore. Beniers has been the subject of trade chatter in recent years, and the Kraken are widely believed to be looking for ways to upgrade their offensive production. Moving a significant contract like Beniers' could theoretically open the door for Seattle to pursue other options.
None of this confirms that a deal is in the works. Airport sightings are notoriously unreliable as trade indicators, and there has been no official word from either organization.
For now, this remains firmly in the realm of speculation, but it is the kind of speculation that will keep fans refreshing their feeds until something concrete emerges.
