Montreal’s recent shakeup of their prospect pool continues. The Habs announced on Monday that they’ve acquired defenceman Maksymilian Szuber from Utah in exchange for winger Joshua Roy.
It’s the third swap of prospects in recent days, joining the acquisitions of center Hunter McKown from Columbus and winger Brett Berard from the Rangers.
Szuber was a sixth-round pick by the Coyotes (now the Mammoth) back in 2022, going 163rd overall. The 23-year-old has spent the past three seasons in North America, playing primarily in the minors, although he has one NHL appearance under his belt from the 2023-24 campaign.
Szuber, a 6’3, 201 lb rearguard, played in 65 games with AHL Tucson last season, recording 11 goals and 16 assists. The year before, he had 32 points in 65 contests. Despite that, he’s known as more of a shutdown defenceman and will likely be earmarked to fill the vacancy created with the Rocket when William Trudeau was sent to New York in the Berard trade.
Szuber is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He will need to clear waivers to join Laval next season.
As for Roy, he was a fifth-round selection back in the 2021 draft, going 150th overall. After breaking out in junior, he had a strong rookie year professionally, getting into 23 games with the Habs where he had nine points while also recording 32 points in 41 games with Laval.
Roy’s performance has largely stagnated since then. A poor showing in training camp saw him back with the Rocket and while he was still productive there (20 goals and 15 assists in 47 games), he didn’t make much of an impact in a dozen games with the Habs, scoring just twice. This past season, he notched 23 goals and 22 helpers in 57 AHL contests but only saw three games with the Canadiens, being held off the scoresheet.
Like Szuber, Roy is a pending restricted free agent and will need waivers to go back to the minors. He’ll be hoping that this change of scenery will give him a better chance of sticking at the NHL level.