When people talked about the top trade assets that the Montreal Canadiens had, Evgenii Dadonov seldom made the list. The forward was on an expiring contract and an upcoming unrestricted free agent, but his slow start to the season made it hard to picture much value coming back in a trade.
Reports had a potential mid- or late-round pick coming back for the forward. Instead, the Canadiens acquired forward Denis Gurianov.
Gurianov is still only 25 years old, and was Dallas’s first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft.