It’s been a long time coming, but Shea Weber, former captain of the Montreal Canadiens, has been shipped off to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Evgeni Dadonov. Weber has not played since the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals and probably will never play again because of the multitude of injuries sustained over the years, and playing through them. Foot injury, ankle injury, knee injury; this man has endured so much pain just so he could help his team succeed. He’s the definition of captain: selfless, giving, leadership; they’re a lot of captains in the NHL, but I don’t think there’s one who exemplified it better than Shea Weber.
Now, looking to the business side of the trade. It’s a cap dump for both teams. For Montreal, not only do they gain flexibility cap wise for now and in the future, they get a player in Dadonov who’s in the last year of his three year, 15$ million deal he signed in 2020 with the Ottawa Senators. Habs General Manager Kent Hughes said that Dadonov is a player that can help the forward group right now, with his skill and scoring ability being a need for the upcoming season. With Montreal not looking to make the playoffs next season, he will be a likely trade candidate at the trade deadline, so Hughes could acquire more assets to better the team in the future.
For Vegas, this gives them flexibility to resign their own players. Both teams did not want to give up extra assets to offload their respective players, so this one for one trade works out for both teams. Vegas will be looking to be aggressive this offseason, with their core group being in their prime playing years, GM Kelly McCrimmon will look to add to get the Golden Knights over the hump.
I will be posting a new blog about the upcoming draft, and who I think the Habs will select with their first 3 draft picks. Stay tuned!
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