Habs acquired defenseman Jon Merrill from the Red Wings.

We have a trade.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Habs acquired defenseman Jon Merrill from the Red Wings.
Dave Reginek/Detroit Red Wings

We have a trade to announce.

According to an official announcement made by the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday morning, the Habs have acquired veteran defenseman Jon Merrill from the Detroit Red Wings. There will be two pieces going back the other way in this deal, the Habs will send forward Hayden Verbeek to the Red Wings as well as a 5th round draft pick at the 2021 National Hockey League entry draft.

The trade of Merrill comes as absolutely no surprise here given that he was one of several players held out of the lineup over the weekend as teams around the NHL prepare to make trades ahead of the deadline. The addition of a defenseman on the part of the Montreal Canadiens also does not come as a particularly big surprise given that earlier today they made the head scratching decision to waive defenseman Victor Mete. In spite of a trade request from Mete earlier in the season the Canadiens opted to hold onto to him feeling he brought valuable depth to their roster, and once he was waived this led to many speculating that the Canadiens were on the verge of bringing another defenseman. Those that speculated along these lines would now appear to have been proven correct.

Merrill is a serviceable defenseman that has managed to remain a positive player this season in spite of playing on what is inarguably among the worst teams in the league. He has no goals and 5 assists for 5 total points over his 36 appearances for the Red Wings this season and currently sits at a plus minus rating of +2.

I mean no disrespect to forward Hayden Verbeek here but I do suspect that his inclusion in this trade was merely an afterthought. The 23 year old centerman has never played a single game in the NHL. Although the Red Wings could see value in him at the American Hockey League level, where he would presumably play for their affiliate team the Grand Rapids Griffins, I doubt that was much of a consideration here. It seems more likely that the Habs wanted to maintain the same number of contracts on their roster, and therefore sent a relatively meaningless one back the other way.

Stay tuned for more details.

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