Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said he was confident he would make a trade and after trading Lars Eller for two second round picks he acquired Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks for the 39th and 45th picks in this year’s draft.
Shaw is 5’11, 180 and had 14 goals and 20 assists in 78 games last year. He has a cap hit of $2 million the last two years and is currently a restricted free agent.
The Canadiens had bargaining chips with those two second round picks and chose to use them to acquire a player who could jump into the lineup right away.
He was expendable from the Blackhawks because of their cap issues as an upcoming restricted free agent and the Canadiens have a little more flexibility with their salary cap situation.
The Canadiens still have the 9th overall pick and should be making their pick within the next hour.
