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The Montreal Canadiens have acquired defenceman David Schlemko from the Vegas Golden Knights in return for a 5th-round pick in 2019.
Canadiens acquire defenseman David Schlemko from Las Vegas, in return for a 5th round pick in 2019. DETAILS -> https://t.co/fVcJsv3m70.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) June 22, 2017
This is actually a pretty great pickup for Marc Bergevin. He gets Schlemko, who adds immediate defensive depth to the team for relatively nothing. Schlemko is 29 years old and is signed for $2.1 million on the cap for the next three seasons.
It means that the Canadiens essentially swapped Alexei Emelin for Schlemko, losing a fifth-round pick but saving $2 million on the cap in the process.
Schlemko had two goals and 16 assists in 62 games last year with the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton native is a left-handed shot, which fits in nicely with the Canadiens need on the back-end.
He is added to a group that includes Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Jakub Jerabek, Jordie Benn, Brandon Davidson, and Zach Redmond under contract. Andrei Markov is an unrestricted free agent on July 1.