Canadiens acquire Christian Dvorak after declining to match Kotkaniemi’s offer sheet

The wait wasn’t as long this time around. 

The Montreal Canadiens had fans wait until almost the last minute when they have elected not to match the Carolina Hurricanes’ offer sheet to Jesperi Kotkaniemi. The young centre will now join the Hurricanes on a one-year, $6.1 million contract, while the Canadiens will receive the Hurricanes first- and third-round picks in 2022 in compensation. 

Less than two hours later, Elliotte Friedman reported that Habs general manager Marc Bergevin was working on a deal to acquire Christian Dvorak from the Arizona Coyotes. 

We had head about this for the past week as Friedman and coworker Eric Engels reported that the Habs were eyeing Dvorak instead of Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres in a trade. Engels had mentioned that the return price would likely be a first, second and third.

Now it has been confirmed that the Canadiens have landed Dvorak in return for two draft picks. 

"Arizona trades Dvorak to Montreal in exchange for: i) the better of Montreal's own 1st round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and Carolina's 1st round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft (previously acquired by Montreal); and ii) Montreal's own 2nd round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

However, in the event that either or both of Montreal's own 1st round pick and/or Carolina's 1st round pick are Top 10 picks in the 2022 NHL Draft (after the final Draft order has been established in accordance with the results of the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery), then Montreal will instead transfer to Arizona: i) the worse of Montreal's own pick and Carolina's pick (previously acquired by Montreal); and ii) Montreal's own 2nd round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft."

Since the beginning of the offseason, several teams have been in contact with the Coyotes in attempt to acquire Dvorak. Per Cap Friendly, he’s signed for four more years with a very manageable $4.45 million salary cap hit, a great deal for a young center with his productivity. 

Dvorak tallied 17 goals and 14 assists in 56 games last season. He has scored 15-plus goals in four of his five NHL seasons. It makes sense that the Canadiens went after him after refusing to match the $6.1 million offer sheet for Kotkaniemi.