Montreal Canadiens: A Trip Down Memory Lane

The Matt Duchene trade on Sunday to Ottawa was in some ways very reminiscent of a trade the Montreal Canadiens made many years ago.

Have you ever watched a television or Netflix series that has a lot of drama around it? There will be a lot of different aspects to the series, but there’s usually an underlying storyline that fans are paying attention to. In the NHL, that was Matt Duchene. The 26-year-old was surrounded in trade rumours for years, and we all just wanted to see where he would end up (fingers were crossed that it would be with the Montreal Canadiens). However, last night the story came to an end. Duchene was traded.

Of course the trade itself had to match the situation in that it was weird. It got out a few days ago that a potential three-way trade between the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and Ottawa Senators fell through. Apparently, the leak of the deal was what got it going again, and now Duchene is a Senator.

Interestingly enough, the trade happened mid-game. Colorado was facing the New York Islanders and Duchene had played 1:59 in the first period. Blake Comeau took a hard hit and needed to be helped off the ice. Comeau had the trainer and Duchene escort him back to the dressing room, but the latter was actually pulled off because he was no longer part of the team.

The Avs lost that game 6-4 and Duchene was on a plane ride to Canada’s capital city (Ottawa).

Trades while the player is playing are uncommon, but they do happen at times. In fact, the last team to make a trade like that were the Montreal Canadiens in the 2011-12 season.

88 Miles/hr to January 12th 2012

(In case that reference in the heading flew over some of your heads, it’s from Back to the Future). The Montreal Canadiens weren’t having their best season with a 16-19-7 record. Mike Cammalleri was in the middle of his five-year $30 million contract with the team, but was having a bad season. Well, the whole team was, but making that much money puts on expectations on you to perform.

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Cammalleri’s famous words after the 3-0 loss to St. Louis, the same game he was booed by fans, will always stick out in our minds which included words like, “losing mentality”. Of course there was also the knock on his ice time as he was getting around 15 minutes a night while being used to about 20.

The Habs next game was against the Boston Bruins at TD Gardens. Montreal was down 1-0 and Cammalleri only played 9:02 in the first two periods. However, he didn’t return for the third period. Why? Cammalleri had been traded. He along with goaltender Karri Ramo and a 2012 5th round pick went to the Calgary Flames for Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland, and a 2013 2nd.

Bourque finished that season with eight points but had a limited role with the team. Holland only played five games with the Montreal Canadiens the next season, and that 2013 2nd round pick became Zachary Fucale.

As rare as mid-game trades are, just like with Cammalleri, the Duchene one won’t be the last. It’ll be interesting to see who the next team will be to do it. Considering Marc Bergevin‘s tendency to make the shock value trade, maybe the Habs will find themselves in that situation again in the future.

Next: Talking With Andrew Berkshire

What are your memories from that trade? Who will be the next team to make an in-game trade? Let us know what you think down below.