There’s no two ways about it, the Montreal Canadiens are off to a rough start. They won their season opener on the back of a miraculous Samuel Montembeault shutout, and since then, they’ve only gathered three more points and have lost their last four games.

Granted, injuries have played a role, but as Martin St-Louis likes to say, the league doesn’t care that you are dealing with injuries; it just keeps going. On Tuesday, against one of the NHL’s top teams, the Habs were missing two top-six players and a top-pairing guy as well. Remove that from any team, and it will make a difference.

It doesn’t look like Juraj Slafkovsky’s injury will be a long-term deal since he’s being evaluated weekly, but Patrik Laine still has a month or two to go, so his absence will still be felt for a couple of months.

According to TSN insider Pierre Lebrun, general manager Kent Hughes is not just biding his time; he’s making calls in the hope of finding a solution. He adds that trades at this time of year are a rare feat, and he doesn’t believe anything is imminent.

If Hughes is indeed trying to get some action going, it’s hard to see how he could manage to get some top-six help right now. Of course, there are some players who should be considered untouchables, such as Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, and I believe Lane Hutson now as well, and to get top-six reinforcements; these are the kind of players one would need to put on the table.

Dailyfaceoff’s Frank Seravalli added last night that the Canadiens are actually looking for reinforcement on the backhand, Hughes is reportedly after a top four right-shot blueliner. That’s a tall order and a rare commodity on the market, but the GM has proven he could make trades happen when others couldn’t.

As I’ve previously stated, I do not believe that Arber Xhekaj is on his way out of Montreal, even though he’s probably the player outside of those listed above who would get the most interest from other teams.

However, there are some franchises out there looking for some help down the middle. Could they be interested in giving Christian Dvorak a fresh start? The veteran is on an expiring deal and struggling to find his game right now. Moving him would make room to deploy Oliver Kapanen as a center as well (Alex Newhook took most of the second line’s faceoff on Tuesday night).

Even if Hughes cannot find a trading partner, though, it’s encouraging to know he’s not just crossing his fingers and hoping time will heal all wounds, literally and figuratively speaking.