Three Montreal Canadiens Just Playing Out The String With Organization

Tanner Pearson

The Canadiens brought in Tanner Pearson last summer as a cap transaction as much as anything. They were looking for a taker for Casey DeSmith (when they had four goalies and not just three) and found a trade partner with the Vancouver Canucks.

The problem was cap space and the Canadiens took back Tanner Pearson in order to make the deal work from a financial standpoint. Pearson is a former Stanley Cup winner with the Los Angeles Kings, a team he played a key role on when they won, but was coming off significant hand and wrist injuries that caused him to miss most of last season.

He is in the final year of a contract that has him taking up $3.25 million of cap space, which probably limited his trade market. An intelligent, veteran player is always in demand at the trade deadline, but he just takes up too much cap space to make a trade work.

That is especially true considering he has five goals and 11 points in 45 games this season. It has been great to see him (mostly) healthy again and he is a trusted veteran to have on a rebuilding team.

But, the Canadiens have Anderson, Gallagher and Joel Armia as veteran wingers who belong on the bottom six and don't really need another one. That would make it unlikely that Pearson, at 31 years of age, will re-sign with the Canadiens next season.

Expect him to play out the season with the Canadiens, but this will be the last we see of him in Montreal.