Canadiens among teams interested in Stars’ Julius Honka

Dallas Stars' defenceman Julius Honka scores his first goal of the season with a perfect shot that beat Rangers' goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

The Montreal Canadiens are among the teams interested in a trade for Dallas Stars defenceman Julius Honka, according to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels.

As per Engels, the “belief” is the Canadiens would prefer a player-for-player trade rather than a player-for-draft pick swap.

The Carolina Hurricanes could also have interest in Honka, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Stars general manager Jim Nill told local media on Friday that the 23-year-old Honka had requested a trade out of Dallas as training camp was set to get underway.

Selected 14th overall in the first round of the 2014 draft, Honka has played in 87 games for the Stars since making his NHL debut in 2016-17. The Jyvaskyla, Finland native was a healthy scratch for much of the second half of 2018-19 and didn’t sign a qualifying offer extended by the Stars this off-season.

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