The Montreal Canadiens announced on Wednesday that they acquired left winger Nicolas Deslauriers from the Buffalo Sabres in return of defenceman Zach Redmond.
The Canadiens acquire Nicolas Deslauriers from BUF, in return for Zach Redmond. Deslauriers will report to the Laval Rocket.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 4, 2017
Redmond fell out of favour quickly with the Montreal Canadiens this season, showing very little at training camp and being one of the first ‘big name’ players sent down to the Laval Rocket. Given the depth on defence for the Rocket, Redmond even found himself on the third pairing at practice on Tuesday, so it’s little surprise that he was moved out by the Canadiens.
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In return, the Canadiens obtain Deslauriers, who has been part of the Sabres NHL roster for the past four seasons. Originally a Los Angeles Kings third round draft pick, Deslauriers finds himself back in the AHL after clearing waivers earlier this week.
Deslauriers however might have a hard time fitting into a very deep Rocket forward corps as he isn’t the most-offensively talented. He will slot potentially into the bottom six, fighting with the likes of Yannick Veilleux, David Broll, and Jordan Boucher for ice time. The Rocket currently have 18 forwards on their roster.
Making matters more complicated, Deslauriers qualifies as a ‘veteran’ player with 404 professional games played, while Redmond wasn’t. This gives the Rocket six veterans, including Peter Holland, Jakub Jerabek, Eric Gelinas, Matt Taormina, Chris Terry, and Deslauriers.
Only five can be part of the line-up at the same time. Perhaps this is an indicator of more future moves to come.
Deslauriers is in the final season of his contract, paying him a one-way salary of $775,000. He will be an unrestricted free agent when it concludes.
