(Nashville) The Canadiens announced on Tuesday that they have acquired Alex Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche. In return, the Habs give up first- and second-round picks (31st and 37th overall) in the 2023 draft. Defender Gianni Fairbrother is also heading to Denver.

In Newhook, the CH get their hands on a 22-year-old striker who fits perfectly with their reconstruction project. The Newfoundland native was drafted 16th overall in the 2019 first round, one spot behind Cole Caufield.

This prolific offensive forward in the university ranks, is still slow to fully regain his touch in the NHL. With the Avalanche, he has just played his first two full seasons, obtaining 66 points in 153 games. He won the Stanley Cup in 2021. He is without a contract for the next season, and it was not certain that the Avalanche, stuck by the salary cap, could keep both his services and those of Bowen Byram .

This transaction is practically a copy-and-paste of the one that brought Kirby Dach to Montreal at this time last year. The two have nothing in common size-wise – 6’4″ and 212 pounds for Dach, 5’10” and 190 pounds for Newhook. But they present a similar profile. That of an attacker with undeniable individual skills, employed in the center and on the wing and who has not yet fully met the expectations for him.

Even the offensive production of the two is almost the same when they arrive in Montreal: 66 points in 159 games for Newhook in Colorado, against 61 points in 152 games for Dach in Chicago. The latter had the best season of his young career with CH. The Habs hope today that Newhook will experience the same curve and that it finds its wings under the orders of Martin St-Louis.

As for Fairbrother, he clearly did not fit into the organization’s future plans.

From Nashville, General Manager Kent Hughes will speak to the media at approximately 4:30 p.m. (Quebec time).