Montreal Canadiens Trade Rene Bourque To Anaheim
By Jared Book
The Montreal Canadiens traded Rene Bourque to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenceman Bryan Allen.
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Both Allen and Bourque make about the same salary (Allen is at $3.5 million, Bourque at $3.3) however Allen is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season while Bourque still had another year on his contract. This is obviously Marc Bergevin getting ready for next year with the cap.
Like the Travis Moen-for-Sergei Gonchar trade, this is all about the cap next year. Bourque wasn’t going to play this season, not with the emergence of Jiri Sekac and also the depth the Canadiens have in Hamilton.
The Canadiens now have $53.6 million committed for next season which provides them flexibility for re-signing restricted free-agents Jarred Tinordi, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Nathan Beaulieu and Michael Bournival.
Allen is a left-handed defenceman like Gonchar and adds more depth. We all know how Bergevin likes to stock up on defencemen. With the injury to Mike Weaver, Allen provides the team with a seventh defenceman without calling up a youngster from Hamilton.
Allen has played six games for the Ducks this season. He also had a stint in Norfolk of the American Hockey League for conditioning.
The Canadiens now play the St. Louis Blues in a few hours and Marc Bergevin will be speaking to the media before the game.