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Although we'll have to wait a few games to at least catch a glimpse of whether this trade was really good or bad in the near term, I feel that this was a trade the Habs had to make.
Cammalleri was playing horrible hockey all year for the Habs.
- He was probably our least effective forechecker
- He was probably our softest forward in all three zones
- He was probably one of our least effective players in the defensive zone.
- He never went to the hard areas to score goals
- He wasn't scoring enough from the perimeter
- He wasn't effective on the PP or the PK
...
Then what was he doing that was good with all the ice time he wanted? A bit of flair here and there, and scoring sporadically.
I know he has a ton of talent... good hands and a great shot, specifically, but if he's not scoring, then there's almost no reason to play him... That's probably one of the main reasons he saw his ice time dwindle under Cunneyworth. Why not play a forward who can at least hold his own defensively and gain control of the puck in the O-zone like Darche?
I like the trade for Bourque. I'm from Edmonton and have seen a fair bit of Bourque over the past couple seasons when he played against the Oilers. Like Gauthier has said, Bourque addresses some serious issues in Montreal. He's big... He goes hard to the net to score goals... He hits and forechecks well... He's pretty effective on the PK and in his own zone most nights.
Knowing that he makes 2.7 million less than Cammalleri and that he brings something that Montreal desperately needs. I don't see a great reason not to like this trade for Montreal. I think both teams will benefit from this trade though because both players needed a change of scenery. Both players had attitude issues and the change of scenery will probably help both of them with that.
We also got a 2nd rounder.
This trade has got to be one thousand times better than the Ribeiro - Niinimaa trade that I knew was complete (@#*@&*&@ off that bat.
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