Habs trade Andrew Shaw to Chicago

Andrew Shaw is on his way back to where it all began.  The Habs have dealt him along with a 2021 seventh-round pick to Chicago in exchange for a trio of draft picks.  Montreal receives the Blackhawks’ second-round pick in 2020, their 2021 third-rounder, and their 2020 seventh-round selection.

The return winds up being relatively comparable to what Montreal paid to get him in the first place.  Back in 2016, the Habs flipped a pair of second-round picks to Chicago to get him and now basically get a second and a third rounder now (plus three years of him being on the roster).

Shaw is coming off of a career season that saw him pick up 19 goals and 28 assists in just 63 games.  He wound up spending a lot of time on the second line alongside Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi and while that seemed like an odd fit, it certainly seemed to work as Shaw had no issues doing the dirty work.

While the soon-to-be 28-year-old provided Montreal with a lot of grit, he also paid a price for it as his injury and concussion history with the Canadiens was rather pronounced.  In his three seasons with the team, he missed at least 14 games in each of them.  With his style of play, that’s not likely to change anytime soon.

From Montreal’s perspective, not only does this add a pair of draft picks for a draft they’re hosting in 2020 (giving them 11 in total), it also frees up $3.9 million in salary cap room as there is no salary retention in the trade.  With there being some speculation as to them shopping towards the top of the free agent pool, that extra room should come in handy.  (The team elected to not buy out any players during the first window but depending on how many RFAs file for arbitration, a second window could open up later this offseason.)

The Habs now have between $12.5 million and $15 million at their disposal, depending on which players fill out the end of their roster and which ones ultimately get sent to the minors.  They’re also now down to 40 players under contract with four more committed to restricted free agents that received qualifying offers.