It was complicated, but Kent Hughes finally completed his summer salary gymnastics.
The Canadiens’ general manager traded goaltender Casey DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick.
The Habs announced the transaction at the end of the day Tuesday, a few hours before the medical examinations which mark the opening of training camp.
Hughes thus partly solves his overcrowding problem in front of the net, but adds a body to the attack, a month after dropping two wingers to alleviate congestion.
This transaction therefore concludes a vast operation which began on August 6, when the Canadian acted as intermediary in the transaction which sent Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That day, Hughes traded Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick to the Penguins, and got DeSmith, defenseman Jeff Petry, prospect Nathan Légaré and a 2nd round pick.
He has since traded Petry and now, DeSmith. The net result of the transactions is therefore as follows.
In other words, the salary addition this season is negligible. This is essentially Gustav Lindström’s salary, but if he is transferred to Laval, his salary will disappear from the books. Next season, however, the Canadian will add more than $2 million with the withholding of Petry’s salary. But Pearson, like DeSmith, has a contract that expires in the summer of 2024.
These additions, however, allowed Hughes to acquire three draft picks.
Concretely, in hockey terms, Pearson could be called upon to replace Hoffman as a winger in an “intermediate” trio.
If Hoffman’s case was complex because of the more or less enviable reputation he had, Pearson’s is complex for different reasons. The attacker indeed found himself at the heart of a medical fiasco in Vancouver.
However, according to what is being said in Vancouver, the team erred in the return to play protocol, causing complications which required other operations. According to sources, he suffered between five and seven.
His future was unclear at the Canucks’ last season report in April. “I just want to go home to be a family man and be able to play with my children,” he told local media, still wearing a brace on his hand.
In early September, however, Vancouver Province reported that Pearson had returned to training “for at least two weeks” and did not appear to be limited in his shooting.
The player, however, remained discreet, and at the time of writing, his agent had still not responded to a message from La Presse asking for details.
When healthy, Pearson generates adequate offensive production for a third-line winger. The 6’1”, 201 lb athlete has reached the 20-goal mark twice, most recently in 2019-20.
Last season, he was limited to one goal and four assists in 14 games, but in 2021-22, he had 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 68 games. It remains to be seen whether his hand will have healed well enough to return to such production. We can also wonder how he will recover from his long absence. It’s now been 10 months since he last played, a long absence for a player who has never been the smoothest skater.
Personality-wise, however, it seems that the Canadian has got his hands on a valued teammate.
“During the whole fiasco surrounding his injury, he didn’t say a single word, even though he could have complained. And if he had to talk about it, it was because a teammate (Quinn Hughes) judged that the situation should be denounced. This story says everything you need to know about his character,” said a colleague from Vancouver who wished to remain anonymous.
