Oilers snag David Desharnais from Canadiens at NHL trade deadline

Weird month for David Desharnais.

First he lost the coach that inexplicably gave him substantial ice time to the detriment of better players. Now, just like Michel Therrien, he’s no longer a member of the Montreal Canadiens, as they flipped the 5-foot-7 center to the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Brandon Davidson.

From the Canadiens:

Davidson, 25, played in 28 games thus far this season with the Oilers. He registered one assist, received 16 penalty minutes and blocked 46 shots. Davidson shows an average of 15:23 ice time per game. The 6’2” and 200 lbs. defenseman has appeared in 91 career NHL regular season games since his debut in 2014-15, recording 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists), with a +3 differential and 36 penalty minutes. Davidson added two goals on the power play. A native of Lethbridge, Alberta, Davidson was selected in the sixth round, 162nd overall by the Oilers at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Signed by the Canadiens as a free agent on November 5, 2008, David Desharnais appeared in 31 games in 2016-17, registering 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists). In 435 regular season games since making his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 2009-10, he recorded 250 career points (79 goals, 171 assists) and served 136 penalty minutes. Desharnais registered 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists) in 38 career playoff games.

The Oilers traded Davidson with one more year on his contract at $1.425 million, so you could certainly point to the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft as a possible influence here as Davidson wouldn’t have been protected.

As for Desharnais, he’s an unrestricted free agent as the end of the season. He’s a curious acquisition for the Oilers – an undersized fourth-liner who doesn’t take faceoffs and, when he does, loses them (47.8 percent).

From Eyes On The Prize:

The Habs retained 20% of Desharnais’ $3.5 million cap hit in the deal. The move is a bit surprising, as it was assumed that Desharnais would be merely a piece included in a deal, and not part of a one-for-one transaction.

The Oilers clear a contract, but don’t seem to get much more than that, unless they see something in Desharnais in a bottom six role that we don’t.

On the Milbury Scale, we’ll give this:

ONE MILBURY

A weird one with a little bit of potential upside for the Oilers, who again at leat clear a contract.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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