Making sense of the Zack Kassian for Ben Scrivens trade

This deal, which is one of the rare trades executed by Marc Bergevin that wasn't kept a complete secret, has left fans wondering what Scrivens can bring to the table.

First off, it's worth mentioning that Kassian was more or less a lost asset, and it was clear that the Canadiens wanted him as far away as possible from the team.

Now, on to Scrivens. Let's be honest, he's struggled lately. In 10 games for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL Scrivens had a .893 save percentage and managed to win only two games. In comparison, the other Condors goalie, Laurent Brossoit, has produced a sparkling .928 save percentage, combined with 10 wins in 16 games.  Last season, Scrivens played in 57 games for the Oilers, and had a .890 save percentage to show for it. Essentially, his numbers have been well below average in the AHL and the NHL in the past two seasons.

Scrivens is just 2-6-1 in the AHL this year with stats worse than both Zachary Fucale and Dustin Tokarski, so it's unclear if he's actually going to shore up a weak spot for the Habs. He will be in the Canadiens lineup tonight behind Mike Condon. and could very well play the second part of the back-to-back. The positive in this situation is that the Oilers retained 24% of Scrivens' salary, meaning Marc Bergevin wasted little to no cap space with this acquisition. However, it's worth noting that since Tokarski and his very reasonable contract has been assigned to the IceCaps, the Habs have added roughly $400K to their cap hit.

He's probably not much of an upgrade on Mike Condon from a statistical standpoint, however he does bring a lot more experience to the table, with almost 130 games of NHL experience under his belt. Working with Stephane Waite should definitely help Scrivens as well.

This also provides somewhat of an insurance policy if ever Carey Price is injured for an extended period of time. Apparently a few teams were interested in Kassian, and there was probably a draft pick offer in there somewhat. That the Canadiens decided to acquire a goaltender instead of futures is noteworthy.

Regardless, it's not a blockbuster, and the fact of the matter is that Kassian's future with the Canadiens was over the minute he got into his car accident.

In essence this trade is just swap of depth players on expiring contracts, and probably won't have a major impact on the Canadiens season. For the Oilers they get a player they've allegedly wanted for several years and for the Canadiens they add a veteran goalie presence while Carey Price is out injured.