Canadiens trade Peter Budaj and Patrick Holland to the Jets, for Eric Tangradi

It was announced earlier this afternoon by the Winnipeg Jets twitter account that the Canadiens had traded goaltender Peter Budaj and prospect Patrick Holland to the Jets in exchange for 25 year-old forward Eric Tangradi.

Jets announce trade: Peter Budaj and forward Patrick Holland from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Eric Tangradi.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 5, 2014

This clears up the goaltending surplus, meaning that Dustin Tokarski will start the year as Montreal's backup. It also helps Montreal's cap space situation, by relieving them of Budaj's $1.4M contract. Dustin Tokarski on the other hand is only slated to make $562,500 this season in the NHL.

Tangradi is a depth player, who has seen a fair amount of action in the NHL, although more in a support role than a top 9 player.

In 51 games with the Jets last year he scored three goals and added 3 assists.

The Canadiens will send Tangradi to the Hamilton Bulldogs once the trade is processed.

Here are his career numbers, via eliteprospects.com:

The most important aspect of this trade, as noted by Arpon Basu, is not the player exchange, but rather the cap space that the Canadiens have created. The Habs now sit at almost $3.5M in cap space.

#Habs add $837,500 in cap space replacing Budaj with Tokarski. This is more important than Tangradi in this deal.

— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 5, 2014

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