Habs give up third-round and fifth-round picks at NHL Draft, while Sabres will retain $1.625 million of Staal's $3.25-million salary.
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Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin added some much needed experience at the centre position Friday afternoon when he acquired Eric Staal from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft.
The Sabres will also retain $1.625 million of Staal’s US$3.25-million salary. This is the final season of the 36-year-old’s two-year, US$6.5-million contract.
In 32 games this season with the Sabres, Stall had 3-7-10 totals and was averaging 15:34 of ice time while winning 48 per cent of his faceoffs. The 6-foot-4, 195-pounder also had a minus-20 differential on a terrible Buffalo team that has a 6-22-4 record and is winless in its last 16 games (0-14-2).
During 17 seasons in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and the Sabres, Staal has 439 goals and 592 assists for 1,031 points in 1,272 regular-season games. The Hurricanes selected Staal in the first round (second overall) at the 2003 NHL Draft.
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Staal won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. The Thunder Bay, Ont., native also helped Team Canada win gold at the 2007 IIHF World Hockey Championship and was part of the gold-medal team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Heading into this season, one of the biggest question marks for the Canadiens was their youth and inexperience at centre. Bergevin was counting on Nick Suzuki, 21, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, 20, and Jake Evans, 24, to maintain the level of play they showed in the post-season bubble last year in Toronto. Suzuki and Kotkaniemi tied for the team lead in goals with four each in 10 games, while Evans was solid in his fourth-line role during the six games he played, picking up one assist.
But through 31 games this season, Suzuki (seven), Kotkaniemi (four) and Evans (two) have combined for only 13 goals. Evans has no goals in his last 24 games. It also hasn’t helped that veteran centre Phillip Danault has scored only two goals this season. Suzuki (44.1 per cent), Kotkaniemi (48.2 per cent) and Evans (48.2 per cent) have also struggled in the faceoff circle.
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Staal scored a career-high 45 goals with the Hurricanes in 2005-06, their Stanley Cup season, and scored 42 goals in 2017-18 with the Minnesota Wild.
The government-mandated 14-day quarantine for NHL players traded from an American team to a Canadian team remains in place. There were reports this week that the federal government is poised to approve a shortened seven-day quarantine with extra testing for NHL players ahead of the league’s April 12 trade deadline.
The Canadiens could soon have a second player joining Staal on the team after going through a COVID-19 quarantine. Cole Caufield, the Canadiens’ first-round pick (15th overall) at the 2019 NHL Draft, is expected to turn pro after his University of Wisconsin Badgers were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
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Caufield scored two goals and added an assist in Wisconsin’s 6-3 loss to the Bemidji State Beavers in the first round of the Bridgeport Regional in Connecticut. The 5-foot-7, 165-pound right-winger finishes the season with 30-22-52 totals in 31 games, leading the NCAA in goals and points. The 20-year-old is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top player in the NCAA.
Bergevin said this month that he had a plan for Caufield after he turns pro, but wasn’t ready to divulge it. Caufield could join the AHL’s Laval Rocket or the Canadiens.
The Canadiens had four games postponed this week after Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia were placed on the NHL’s COVID Protocol Related Absences list on Monday. On Thursday, Bergevin confirmed one of the players had tested positive for a variant of the coronavirus and the other had been in close contact.
Depending on the results of daily COVID-19 testing in the next few days, the Canadiens are planning to open their Bell Sports Complex training facility in Brossard for a practice on Monday and are scheduled to play the Senators Tuesday night in Ottawa.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vbW9udHJlYWxnYXpldHRlLmNvbS9zcG9ydHMvaG9ja2V5L25obC9ob2NrZXktaW5zaWRlLW91dC9jYW5hZGllbnMtYWNxdWlyZS1jZW50cmUtZXJpYy1zdGFhbC1mcm9tLXNhYnJlc9IBnQFodHRwczovL21vbnRyZWFsZ2F6ZXR0ZS5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvaG9ja2V5LWluc2lkZS1vdXQvY2FuYWRpZW5zLWFjcXVpcmUtY2VudHJlLWVyaWMtc3RhYWwtZnJvbS1zYWJyZXMvd2NtLzY2ZjdhMWRlLTYyZWYtNDJkYy04ZTFlLWNhNjE1Y2U0OWIyNi9hbXAv?oc=5
2021-03-26 21:11:15Z
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