The Montreal Canadiens trade Nick Cousins to the Golden Knights

ithThe Montreal Canadiens wrapped up Trade Deadline Day moving pending restricted free agent Nick Cousins to the Vegas Golden Knights.

It looks as if the Montreal Canadiens are getting the last laugh on Trade Deadline Day. After moving out Nate Thompson and Matthew Peca, the Habs’ final deal of the day was to send Nick Cousins to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Cousins was a favourite of Claude Julien‘s, which saw him play at times into the top-six and the two powerplay units despite being a depth player. After a career year in points with the Arizona Coyotes (7 goals and 20 assists for 27 points in 81 games), the then 25-year-old joined the Habs during Free Agency on a one-year $1 million deal.

It was a relatively valuable contract for the Canadiens as Cousins put up 9 goals and 13 assists. Aside from his production, his on-ice play was a factor for the team, so much so that he earned the coach’s trust despite being made a healthy scratch at times.

Similar to the other deals Marc Bergevin made leading up to the Trade Deadline, the Montreal Canadiens added a fourth-round pick in 2020 in exchange for Cousins. It may not be the highest currency, but gems can be found in the depths of the draft. There’s also the possibility of packaging picks to move up if there is someone on the board the organization really wants.

Cousins moving on creates another hole in the forward corps, which may call for another promotion from the Laval Rocket. Jake Evans is already up with the team with the Nate Thompson trade leaving a hole at 4C, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Montreal Canadiens keep it as such or add another name to play with for the remainder of the season.

Marc Bergevin did his job. He identified that the team were sellers and made appropriate moves to recoup assets in that effort. Now we see how the rest of the season plays out.