The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks made a big trade

The Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens are two teams from the Country of Canada that are not likely to be contenders this year. The Canucks probably think they are but they won’t be once again.

The Habs, however, seem to know who they are and just keep grinding out development. In a few years, they may get back to being one of the best teams in the NHL.

On Tuesday, these two teams made a very interesting trade that will impact both of them right away. Tanner Pearson and a third-round pick are going to the Canadiens in exchange for Casey DeSmith who is now a Canuck.

Montreal was the third team playing the facilitator role in the blockbuster Erik Karlsson trade earlier this off-season. Part of that was landing Casey DeSmith. Well, his stay with Montreal was very short and now he’s going to Vancouver.

The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks made a pretty big trade.

Pearson is going to add some great depth and leadership to this Habs team. This is a year of growth for them. They will have their ups and downs but should be improved as a whole.

As for DeSmith, he will give depth to the goaltending in Vancouver. They need it behind Thatcher Demko who has had some injury trouble in his day. Again, nobody expects them to be a playoff team but this Demko/DeSmith duo could be great.

Adding a third-round pick is also very good for Montreal. When you are rebuilding, you want to add as many assets for the future as you can. This is an example of Montreal doing that only with the future in mind.

Last year with Vancouver, Pearson didn’t play very much. He only got in 14 games and he had one goal to go with four assists for five points. If he is healthy this year, those numbers will look a little more Tanner Pearson-like.

As for Casey DeSmith, he was a backup for the Pittsburgh Penguins. His record was 15-16-4. He had a .905 save percentage and a 3.17 goals-against average. Those aren’t horrific stats but he’d like to get better. The Penguins probably make the playoffs if he was just slightly better.

This is a trade that should see both teams add exactly what they need right now. It has to be shocking for the players involved as we are literally in the week of training camp starting but that is the business side of the game.

A Western Conference team from Canada and an Eastern Conference team from Canada came together to help each other.

DeSmith should provide great goaltending while Pearson will give the Habs another scoring threat at any moment in the middle-six. He is also a Stanley Cup champion with a wealth of experience which is nice as well. We’ll see how it works out for both sides.