After searching for the better part of two seasons, the Montreal Canadiens have finally found a team willing to take on Rene Bourque and his contract, trading him to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for veteran defenseman Bryan Allen.
Allen makes a whopping $3.5M against the salary cap this season, but is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, once again clearing up needed cap space for the Canadiens going into the offseason where they have a ton of restricted free agents to sign, including Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher.
Rene Bourque was clearly no longer in the organization’s plans when he was waived and sent to the AHL, and trading him for an overpaid, old, journeyman defenseman on an expiring contract tells you he wasn’t easy to trade.
Allen, who is 34, has been injured most of this season, and recently returned to the Ducks after a two game conditioning assignment in the American Hockey League. He is a 6’5″, left handed defenseman who has just one goal in the last three seasons.
