The week got off to a great start for the Habs who did the unthinkable by winning a game in overtime. Unfortunately, things went off the rails from there as they dropped three straight to reach the trade deadline on a losing note.

With the Habs likely to lose Victor Mete on waivers, they moved quickly to find a replacement, acquiring Jon Merrill from Detroit in exchange for Ottawa’s 2021 fifth-round pick and Hayden Verbeek.

It hasn’t been a great season for Victor Mete as he has spent most of the year in the press box.  He now has an opportunity to potentially land elsewhere as the Habs placed him on waivers on Sunday.

After two straight losses, the Habs were back in action on Saturday night hoping to end their week on a winning note against Winnipeg. Instead, they couldn’t get anything going offensively and folded in the second half of the game, ultimately falling 5-0.

With the trade deadline approaching, cap and roster flexibility are still going to be important for the Habs, even with Brendan Gallagher’s LTIR placement.  With that in mind, the team once again placed Paul Byron on waivers on Friday and he passed through unclaimed on Saturday.

The Habs likely deserved a better outcome if one considers the entirety of Thursday night’s game. However, another slow start had them playing catch-up from the get-go and for a second straight night, they just didn’t have enough offence to overcome the bad start, falling 4-2 to Winnipeg.

The Habs kicked off the first of several three-in-four stretches on Wednesday night as they were in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs. They played well in some parts but were chasing the game in others, eventually falling 3-2.

Eric Staal’s debut with Montreal was an interesting one as the Habs dominated the first and third periods, held on in the second and in overtime and ultimately skated away with a 3-2 victory with the newcomer scoring the winner.