For the better part of this week, rumors out of Montreal suggest the Canadiens have been speaking with Calgary about sending Alex Kovalev to the Flames for Alex Tanguay.

While the rumors, which also include Habs forwards Steve Begin and Guillaume Latendresse, have spread across local airwaves and the Internet, it does not look like it will happen, reports the Montreal Gazette.

The paper notes Tanguay has a no-trade clause and has expressed no interest in coming back to Quebec.


Kovalev and Flames head coach Mike Keenan were members of the same New York Rangers club that won the Stanley Cup in 1994, but the Gazette indicates that Kovalev is not a Keenan kind of player.

Sources tell TFP that the Canadiens and Flames have traded phones calls over the off-season, but those discussions did not lead to anything fruitful.