The old fax machine that receives official trade paperwork has officially thrown in the towel. Hopefully, the 90’s Brother fax machines have been donated and the NHL is fully state-of-the-art. Maybe it’s so modern, that a hologram Gary Bettman accepts each deal with team GMs. If that’s the case, poor hologram Bettman must be tired from filing deadline trades. Some moves are headline grabbing like the Capitals going all in on Kevin Shattenkirk, while most of the others are page fillers. Some trades could’ve confused hologram Bettman, even Vlade Divac wouldn’t have traded a highly rated prospect like Jonathan Dahlen for Alex Burrows. Questionable trades or not the league still has to confirm the transactions.
Also, over the past few days the Vegas Golden Knights have effected some minor moves that don’t get headlines. Small deals and extensions that only Vegas GM George McPhee would react to. Here are two expansion impacted moves that might have gone under the radar.
The first move was a rare player for player deal. Montreal shipped underwhelming center David Desharnais to Edmonton for 25 year-old defenseman Brandon Davidson. Desharnais could be the only guy who gets booed more than Bettman at the Bell Centre. The 30 year-old center has disappointed Habs fans since he signed a $14M deal. Davidson was an underused blue liner that was on his way out of Edmonton anyways. Many believed Davidson would draw attention from the Golden Knights which could’ve forced Edmonton’s hand. The move worked well for Montreal, in fact they were willing to retain 20% of Desharnais’ contract to trade for Davidson. Former QMJHL scout and analyst Simon Boisvert praised Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin but didn’t understand Edmonton’s rush.
I know Davidson wasn’t gonna be protected, but Chiarelli’s move is mind-boggling. Why not wait until June? Desharnais is worth nothing.
— Simon Boisvert (@simonsnake70) March 1, 2017
Davidson is young, cheap, and can be a good #4-5 defenseman for a few years.
— Simon Boisvert (@simonsnake70) March 1, 2017
To clarify, not saying Davidson is a star. But he’s young and cheap, and that has value for #4-5 defenseman. And Desharnais is useless.
— Simon Boisvert (@simonsnake70) March 1, 2017
Brandon Davidson is underrated by Habs fans. The reason why he was traded is because he was gonna be chosen by Vegas in the expansion draft.
— Simon Boisvert (@simonsnake70) March 1, 2017