Quickly after Andrew Shaw trade was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Montreal Canadiens have traded forward Nicolas Deslauriers to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a 4th round pick in 2020.
The Montreal Canadiens were back at it Sunday evening after moving out Andrew Shaw to rejoin his old Chicago Blackhawks team. Nicolas Deslauriers played 48 games during the 2018-19 season and recorded 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points. He spent two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens have acquired Anaheim’s 4th round pick in 2020, in return for forward Nicolas Deslauriers.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) June 30, 2019
DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/QP7dSGmq4C#GoHabsGo
With this trade, the Montreal Canadiens free up another $1.7 million in cap space, allowing for more money to be spent on free agents and contract extensions for their current roster players. Considering Deslauriers’ point total and games played, it’s almost surprising the Canadiens were able to get as high as a 4th round pick. It is also important to note that with this pick, the Canadiens now have 12 picks in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft with 8 of those picks being within the first four rounds of the draft.
Per Marc-Olivier Beaudoin, it appears Nicolas Deslauriers requested a trade out of Montreal due to wanting to have a fresh start on another team. He’ll now get that chance with the Anaheim Ducks.
Après avoir creusé un peu, je peux confirmer l'info de @DLCoulisses: Nicolas Deslauriers a bel et bien été échangé aux Ducks. Aucune idée du retour par contre.
— Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) June 30, 2019
Deslauriers avait demandé une transaction à l'organisation pour un nouveau départ. #CH #Habs #Canadiens https://t.co/zB7EwOln8p
This is understandable as Deslauriers no longer fits the mold of this young Canadiens team that thrives on their speed. Deslauriers struggled at times to keep up with his teammates, and with the NHL becoming more and more reliant on players who have both speed and skill, Deslauriers fell down the Canadiens depth chart, a team that already has several skilled wingers on their NHL roster and with more in the system.
When Deslauriers was first traded to the Canadiens, he played some very intense hockey and scored 10 goals and 4 assists for a total of 14 points in the process however he was never able to find that consistency in his second season.
Given the timing of the trade and how close it was to the Shaw trade, this could be related to the Montreal Canadiens attempting to further free up space to make a significant moving during Free Agency tomorrow, though this is purely speculative.