The Montreal Canadiens announced today that they’ve acquired center Christian Dvorak from the Arizona Coyotes. The return is a conditional 2022 first-round draft pick as well as a 2024 second-round selection.
The conditions listed on the 2022 first-round pick are complex, to say the least. Arizona will receive the better of the two first-round picks that Montreal owns, both their own and Carolina’s (received today as compensation for Jesperi Kotkaniemi). The first-round pick is also semi-top-10 protected, meaning that if one of Montreal’s first-round selections is in the top 10 of the 2022 draft, Arizona will receive the worse of the two picks.
For Montreal, it’s a quick answer to the questions raised by how they’d fill the departure of both Phillip Danault and Kotkaniemi this offseason. There’s a lot to like about this Dvorak acquisition, including his cost certainty. The 25-year-old center is under contract for four more seasons at a cap hit of $4.45MM, with a modified no-trade clause that kicks in for the last two seasons of his deal.
Dvorak, who likely slots as the second-line center behind Nick Suzuki, is a capable two-way player who’s faced tough competition during his time in Arizona. Likely to receive a slight reduction on his 18:24 average time on ice from last season, his offensive numbers could improve from his career-high 18 goals and 38 points with a little less responsibility. From a hockey standpoint, Dvorak’s proven game at the NHL level makes him an immediate upgrade over Kotkaniemi for less money.
The Coyotes are in full teardown mode and not ashamed to show it. The team has now just three forwards on the active roster signed through next season – Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, and Andrew Ladd. Only two of those players are expected to be contributors at the NHL level. The team is projected to have upwards of $47MM in space heading into next year’s offseason and their gutted roster lead many to believe they’ll be in the running for first overall in 2022. Now equipped with eight picks in the first two rounds of the draft, the full rebuild has begun in Arizona.
All salary cap figures courtesy of CapFriendly.com
we’ll certainly look back on this pair of moves down the road. one wonders who ends off best for it. i’d bet it’s PHX.
I would say this is a pretty good move from Marc Bergevin. The habs are better than they were yesterday
So Habs give a first round pick (likely number 1-20) and a second round pick and Kotkaniemi
for
Dvorak and a first round pick (likely #20+) and a third
I bet NHL 2021 accepts this. It’s a decent trade overall and that doesn’t even factor in the salary implications of KK
that pick won’t be top 10 from Montreal as it has protection.
It is a top 10 protected pick. But I don’t think this is even going to matter.
Hurricanes would have better served making this trade. They really messed up out of spite. GM should be fired
38pts?
He might get more points with reduced minutes?
Debatable.
JK still has a higher offensive upside & he will be at best the Cane’s #3C.
That could lead to JK breaking out & if so the Canes will win this transaction.
KK could very well breakout and if he can while player center the canes win, it’s arguable he will have better line mates and probably likly. Right now Dvorak has a better points per game, FO%, shooting%, will be making 1.7ish less and it’s arguable he will be playing with better line mates aswell. Both players will be changing the amount of pressure/spotlight on them. kK may preform better with a market with less pressure the MTL. Maybe Dvorak shines under the bright light of MTL and thrives in a market like MTL. This will be a fun one to look back on in 2 years.
He who laughs last…
Dundon did not get the revenge he thought he would.
He got the player he wanted.
There were better players to sign to an offer sheet, why didn’t they sign one of them instead of the one they could do their cute $20 signing bonus thing for? Why didn’t they overpay Hamilton?
He overpaid for a player out of spite with the hopes that he might one day become the player they hope for, but already paid for.
Perhaps he will. Perhaps he won’t.
Bergervin got a better player with a lower AAV on a long term deal thanks to it. Bird in hand.
He only “overpaid” for one season. Hamilton would have been a massive 8 year overpay. Every year many people are overpaid by teams on multi-year contracts and its no bod deal. 1 player gets a 1 year overpay specifically because they are trying to keep his team from keeping him and its some huge negative thing. Its Montreal fans being salty. 1 year isnt a big deal. This kid isnt a bust. Kakko and Hughes are still underperforming and people aint calling them busts. Lafrenierre just had a forgettable season. Pierre Luc Dubois only scored one more point than Kotka. Duuds only negative is he needs to eat. Got no meat on that frame. Once he does, hell hafta learn to use his body but other than that hes super skilled, hes a workhorse in both zones and like with anyone else busting at the seams with talent, just a matter of when. Imo, this year
Dvorak isnt a better player. Yalls tears are so salty.
Dvorak didnt get into the NHL until 2 years after he was drafted and has put up consistently average numbers since with top line minutes. Cool.
Kotka has been developing while playing in the NHL and is still only 21. An age most kids reach before playing a single game in the NHL.
Kotka will flourish with the Hurricanes and Dvorak will continue to put up consistent, average numbers with the Habs.
This 1 year overpay, which was necessary in order to utilize the offersheet how it was intended and keep the controlling team from matching, aint a big deal at all. Especially compared to the massive amount of multi-year overpays players around the league are recieving. This aint shit. And its for a 21 year old who just wasnt able to break through on a team unwilling to give him ice time and patience.
All of that COULD happen, yes.
Because thats what it took to get Montreal to not match. Hamilton is unrelated.
No, Dvorak is young, skilled, a complete player. He was top center for Arizona, played most forward minutes, took most faceoffs, 52.6% FOW, capable in both ends. Compare to KK who looks clumsy, falls way too much, is still growing but can’t seem to put it all together. Montreal wins this deal.
Let’s see this year. I predict Dvorak has good year, probably with Hoffman and Gally. But Drouin could work well with Dvorak too.
That’s a steep price for Dvorak. He should have gotten a much better player for those picks. I doubt he gets more ice in montreal with Suzuki there. Seemed like those picks were burning a hole in their pocket so they just had to
Move them ASAP.
1st Rd pick in 22 & a 2nd Rd pick in 24 for Dvorak. That is a hell of a trade. He will be like a Danault type 2 way center. This is a great trade.. plus Dvorak is locked up for 4 years at a decent AAV. We will have room for Suzuki next season. Canes will pay a higher AAV for KK FOR AT LEAST next 2 yrs. Very happy with this trade.
he’ll be a good 2C for the Habs, he was starting to break out a bit and will have better players around him than the yotes would give him, Montreal may still be s bubble team maybe miss the post season by like 3-10 points
Yes and no. On the steep price.
He’s almost 2 million less in salary then JK, and as of right now sign to a longer contract then JK, so so Montreal know what they have going forward for cap hit.
His numbers have been better then JK the last few years, on a crappy Cotes team.
Plus if either Montreal or Carolina has a top 10 pick in the draft next year, the Habs get to keep it, and Arizona get the lower one.
I like this move for the Habs.
That being said, I don’t know what Dvorak face off percentage it. I hope it good.
@TheRickestRick, Christian Dvorak Face off stats at career 51.5%, 2020-21 52.1% , scroll down on this page listed below to NHL Extra Stats
link to hockey-reference.com
You kidding, stimpyi? A 1st and a 2nd for a player of Dvorak’s caliber, four years at THAT price? Hell, teams have been handing out eight year deals for older players with worse production at $6 mil or more this offseason — this is a hell of a deal. I wish Boston had made that offer.
Problem trading with Boston was that their draft pick will most likely be in the bottom of 1st round.Main problem(according rumors) was that Bruins would not include Studnicka and Coyotes didn’t like other Bruins prospects.Bruins wanted to get rid of DeBrusk instead
Yeah, I hear that. But hell, Studnicka’s a promising prospect. Dvorak’s already a good player. I will, ten times out of ten, take the accomplished guy over the maybe-someday guy. Oh well.
Devo will most likely be a bottom 6 center the rest of his career. The Yotes should thank Carolina for the first round pick in the deepest draft in 10 years.
As long as a he stays healthy, Dvo will score 20+ goals, win faceoffs, play a complete game and be a shootout king. Coyotes will miss him. Wishing the Habs sent us Guhle as well.
That’s all it took to get Dvorak? Great work by Bergevin, IMHO!
Lol if that’s what it take for Dvorak, thanks says GM Kevyn Adamns! Yeah helluva deal!
As far as Arizona’s gutted roster Buffalo still has them beat. How the NHL can allow this is beyond me. NBA has super teams (and nursing home teams Lakers), Baseball has teams buying World Series, and the NHL has dumpster fires! I personally can’t stand NBA but at least the drama is entertaining. Baseball is baseball which is all time favorite. NFL is like the Longest Yard with the field littered with criminals but it’s entertaining. Then there’s the NHL with complete teams making a total embarrassment of themselves, teams Loopholing every grey area of their obviously loose rules, and teams that are just total misses on what the goal is once they reach the playoffs. Bettman needs to go. Clearly he’s lost control of this league.
If you enjoy basketball, hockey is not for you. Basketball is a joke league where the players decide which 4 teams will be relevant each year. At least MLB, NHL, and the NFL still have owner controlled teams and some sort of equal competition in the majority of their seasons.
Wait a minute. Did you just accuse the MLB of having equal competition? That sounds like a dodgers fan saying “Yeah, my team can compete with anyone, looks like equal competition to me.”
The relevant teams in baseball reside in big market cities. Always have and always will.
“small market” in baseball means “unwilling to spend” rather than “unable to spend”
So let me get this straight: you think there aren’t teams in the other leagues that are perennial losers? Damn, dude, you need to cut back on the ganja.
Go chew on a nut.
While this unwillingness to spend is true in some cases, it certainly can’t be used as a blanket statement. But again, it’s like a Dodger fan saying “it’s not our fault you can’t afford the roster that we can.” While still claiming that there is equal competition.
And to be clear, it’s true. It isn’t the dodgers fault that they can offer more money, a winning environment, and L.A. lifestyle in comparison to, say, Minnesota or Cleveland. It’s the MLB not having a salary cap that creates it. But regardless, to say the MLB has equal competition is simply false.
The Canes are rumored to have and extension for KK in the works. I bet it’s similar to Dvorak money.
If so, they get KK for an overpay this year, a first and a third. That’s a good deal.
Getting Dvorak for a first and a second, was good work too. That cap hit is valuable.
The only team that got fleeced is AZ. Dvorak contract was backloaded with bigger actual salary at the back. His trade was always gonna happen. They cheaped out and sent away a guy they had finally developed from the 2014 draft. Now their fans can look forward to waiting another 7 yrs to develop his replacement.
Its one thing to rebuild. Its another to become a farm team for actual NHL teams.
So does this mean the Habs are out on Jack Eichel?
I can’t imagine any team’s IN on Eichel right now. Damaged goods, superstar money for a guy who isn’t actually a superstar, and an asking price far more than he’s worth? No thankew. Eichel is the poison pill of the Hot Stove league.
@Nha Trang – Your comments are normally quite succinct,and although I am not a fan of Eichel on many levels, I think you might be a bit harsh in your assessment.
He’s a point per game player on a terrible team so to say he isn’t a superstar is a bit of a misnomer as we have not seen him in a positive situation.
I think he’s an ego-centric individual who was put on a team as the #1 dude and that has not helped him at all.
If he was on a team with a few ‘stars’ and a team leader I’d be curious to see what he could do.
Agree that no team is in on Eichel. That surgery is crucial.
I don’t think I am, actually. Eichel’s a fine player, absolutely. He’d be the #1 center on many teams in the league, and he’d be the star on a number of them.
But when I hear the word “superstar,” I’m thinking a handful of preeminent players: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby. Marchand. Kucherov. Ovechkin. Vasilevskiy. Draisaitl. Hedman. Matthews. Hellebucyk. The guys who, year in and year out, are at the top of the leading scorers, the ones winning the trophies, the ones named league All-Stars.
And Eichel just isn’t one of them. Only in one season has he gotten ANY Hart or All-Star Team votes. His sole honor was being named to the All-Rookie team; he was 4th in Calder voting that year. Is he even in the top ten centers in the league? Let’s run down the roster: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Draisaitl, Matthews, Bergeron, Barkov, Aho, O’Reilly, Malkin, Pettersson … which of them has Eichel outplayed?
If not for Eichel the person, Eichel the player COULD be a top ten player, for sure.
Kid expects it to be handed to him. He could still grow up.
I wouldn’t bet 5 high quality assets and $50 million guaranteed on it, but….COULD happen.
Having draft picks is great. But they don’t win games. Drafting good players does and the AZ Coyotes have no excelled at that for most of there history. Here’s hoping the new regime turns that around.