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A history of draft day trades by the Montreal Canadiens

Generally speaking, General Manager Marc Bergevin is not keen on transactions during the draft weekend if it means taking the focus off of the goal of restocking the prospect cupboard. During  the five drafts that he presided over so far, he only made a few of trades during the event.

In 2014 he moved up to 73rd overall to pick Brett Lernout in the third round, at the cost of 87th and 117th picks.

Last season he pulled off a huge move, trading centre Lars Eller to Washington for a couple second-round picks. He then paid two second-round picks to Andrew Shaw from the Blackhawks.

His predecessors, Bob Gainey and Pierre Gauthier, made it an annual tradition of dealing during the draft.

Gainey he traded away Montreal’s first round pick in 2008, 25th overall, (and their second round pick in 2009, 49th overall) to acquire Alex Tanguay from the Calgary Flames.  The skilled forward ended up playing only 50 games for the Canadiens that season due to injuries, and did not return to the Habs the following season, preferring to avoid the pressure of playing in Montreal.

The only other trade that involved a first-round pick during the last three administrations took place in 2010. Gauthier moved from 27th overall to 22nd to pick Jarred Tinordi, at the cost of a second-round pick, but receiving a fourth-round pick in return. This move did not pan out for the Habs as well as was hoped, but scouts were excited by Tinordi’s potential at the time,

It will be interesting to see what Marc Bergevin decides to do this year, when the League unpredictability is at an all-time high.

Bob Gainey era Draft Day trades

2004 Entry Draft:

2005 Entry Draft:

2006 Entry Draft:

  • 3rd-2006 (79th) and 4th-2006 (109th) to Philadelphia for 3rd-2006 (66th, Ryan White)/

2007 Entry Draft:

2008 Entry Draft:

  • 1st-2008 (25th) and 2nd -2009 to Calgary for Alex Tanguay and 5th-2008 (138th, Maxim Trunev)/

2009 Entry Draft:

  • 6th-2010 (177th) to Pittsburgh for 7th-2009 (211th, Petteri Simila)/

Pierre Gauthier era

2010 Entry Draft:

  • 1st-2010 (27th) and 2nd-2010 (57th) to Phoenix for 1st-2010 (22nd, Jarred Tinordi) and 4-2010 (113th, Mark MacMillan)/

2011 Entry Draft:

  • 3rd-2011 (78th) for 4th-2011 (97th, Josiah Didier) and 4th-2011 (108th, Olivier Archembault)/

Marc Bergevin era

2012 Entry Draft:

  • No trades made/

2013 Entry Draft:

  • No trades made/

2014 Entry Draft:

  • 3rd-2014 (87th) and 4th-2014 (117th) for 3rd-2014 (73th, Brett Lernout)/

2015 Entry Draft:

  • No trades made/

2016 Entry Draft:

  • Lars Eller to Washington for 2nd-2017 (58th) and 2nd-2018.
  • 2nd-2016 (39th, DeBrincat) and 2nd-2016 (45th, Krys) for Andrew Shaw/

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