Well thats… news…
Los Angeles trades Drewiske to Habs for Montreal’s own 5th round pick in the 2013Draft.#tradecentre
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 2, 2013
Davis Drewiske has 1 goal and 4 assists in 20 games for the Kings and plays an average of 14:27 per game.
The Canadiens were looking for some defensive depth, but this move is a little confusing as I’m not sure Drewiske is an upgrade on anyone on the Habs roster currently, but we’ll have some more analysis for you shortly.
Analysis time:
Drewiske has played an extraordinarily sheltered role with the Kings so far this season, with the weakest Corsi Relative Quality of Competition rating on the entire Kings roster among players who’ve played at least 10 games, and the second highest offensive zone start percentage behind Jordan Nolan at 64.7%.
Those minutes are actually more sheltered than Tomas Kaberle’s so far this year, but he’s paired it with an absurd 24.89 Corsi differential per 60 minutes, which is pretty awesome, and a Corsi Relative of 9.1.
It’s tough to see what the goal is in acquiring the 28 year old, late bloomer. He’s probably worth more than the average 5th round pick though, so there’s no reason to criticize the trade. Drewiske is 6’1 and 220 pounds, but only has 13 hits in 20 games this year, so don’t expect a super physical player.
Drewiske is making a pro-rated $600K this season and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, meaning this is likely a pure rental situation unless he really impresses. GM Marc Bergevin is likely looking to add depth on defense, but hopefully it doesn’t come at the cost of Nathan Beaulieu’s audition, as it’s very possible that he is a better player than Drewiske already.
This acquisition likely spells the end of Yannick Weber in a Habs uniform though. There are just too many players ahead of him on the depth chart.
