The Montreal Canadiens weren’t as quiet as initially thought, flipping Evgenii Dadonov to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Denis Gurianov.
The Canadiens first acquired Dadonov in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights this summer in exchange for Shea Weber.
In 50 games with the Canadiens, Dadonov put up four goals and 14 assists for 18 points; this after a very difficult start to the year.
The 25-year-old Gurianov was also having some difficulty getting his mojo going this season with the Stars, putting up two goals and seven assists for nine points in 43 games.
Holding a $2.9M cap hit until the end of the season, Gurianov has arbitration rights going into the summer; but that likely won’t be much of an issue given the season he’s had.
If Gurianov doesn’t succeed in his time with the Canadiens, the Canadiens simply needn’t submit a qualifying offer, and they would be off the hook moving forward.
However, if Gurianov is able to get his game going in Montreal, it would be another solid “buy-low” type of deal from general manager Kent Hughes.
To make the deal happen, the Montreal Canadiens retained 50% of Dadonov’s $5M cap hit, meaning that the Canadiens took on an extra $400,000 in cap space with the deal.
More On Gurianov
Gurianov was the 12th overall selection in the 2015 NHL Draft for the Dallas Stars. He was best known for his impeccable performance for the Stars in the bubble in Edmonton, where he put up nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 27 playoff games.
The rugged winger has the size (6’3, 205lbs) and speed to play an important role for the Canadiens down the stretch and provides them with a left-shooting threat that they could plug into their top-six until the end of the season.
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