*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
The replacement for Jesperi Kotkaniemi is now official. The Montreal Canadiens have acquired C Christian Dvorak from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2022 first round draft pick, and a 2024 second round draft pick, according to an announcement made by the Canadiens.
Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin addressed letting Kotkaniemi walk in regards to Dvorak, saying "You know, this amount of money on a one-year deal for a player who should be making a lot less, it could affect our future. We have a structure or salary cap that we need to work with, and we have some young players coming through that we want to keep. So it put us in a situation where we had to make a decision what works best for our team now and moving forward, and being able to acquire Christian Dvorak certainly made our decision easier."
The Canadiens had two first round picks, one they own, and one they acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes after not matching the offer sheet to Kotkaniemi. The terms of the trade have the Coyotes getting the highest first round pick of Montreal's, so whichever Montreal first round pick is closest to number one overall goes to Arizona. However, if either one of the first round picks ends up in the top 10, or both are in the top 10, Arizona gets the later first round pick.
Last season was a strong one offensively for Dvorak, who tallied 17 goals and 14 assists, with a -11 plus/minus in an ATOI of 18:24, playing in all 56 regular season games for the Coyotes, who failed to make the playoffs.
Bergevin spoke highly of Dvorak, saying that "He's a responsible two-way center. He is not going to be the player that is going to wow you, but his detail to the game is very good. He plays an honest game. He'll have different wingers than he had in Arizona. Arizona is in a different stage than the Montreal Canadiens are. There's a lot to like about Christian Dvorak."
In 5 NHL seasons, Dvorak, a second round pick of the Coyotes in the 2014 NHL draft, has 67 goals and 79 assists in his career, with a -19 plus/minus in an ATOI of 16:31, playing in 302 regular season games since debuting in the 2016-2017 season. In 9 career playoff games, Dvorak has two goals and one assist.
Dvorak was excited to join Montreal, saying that "Ultimately, I'm excited to be on a team that wants to win right now. And obviously they made a great run last year, so hopefully I can help improve their team a little bit and help them win."
The Canadiens are taking on the entire contract of Dvorak, who has 4 years left on a 6 year deal signed with the Coyotes prior to the 2019-2020 season, which has an AAV of $4.45 million, and has a modified no trade clause in the last two years of the contract.
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