from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

The big talking point as the Canadiens start their bye week is what Bergevin is going to do with his week off while many of his players are off vacationing in the sun. The Feb. 24 trade deadline day in the National Hockey League is hurtling toward us with frightening velocity and the discussion among hockey opinion-makers and Canadiens fans this week is what the general manager’s strategy should be in the next month.

As a good pal of mine, a former stock trader, always says: “sell high, buy low.” That’s true on Wall St. and it’s also true in pro sports. If you believe that, then Bergevin should be dealing assets in the coming weeks. In terms of high value, you don’t get much better than Tomas Tatar and Shea Weber and that’s why he should, at the very least, go out and see what fellow GMs might offer for those two.

Tatar is having another great season, with 43 points in 50 games. We all love Tuna — even more so after he scored that beauty of a shootout winner Saturday — but he’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in summer 2021 and will naturally be looking for a lengthy high-price contract that off-season, a deal for a 30-year-old that would be silly for Montreal to sign. Weber, 34, is more obvious trade bait. He is also having an amazing season, but this one is just an age thing. He will not be the same kind of player when the Canadiens’ young prospects come to maturity.

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