The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators completed a small trade this afternoon, proving that it is possible for foes to get along every once in a while:
The #Sens have acquired defenceman Mike Reilly from Montreal for a fifth-round pick in 2021 and forward Andrew Sturtz.
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) January 2, 2020
For the Senators, the price to acquire Reilly is not all that significant. Andrew Sturtz is currently playing out the second year of the two-year contract he signed after leaving Penn State as its all-time leading goal scorer, but should not be a huge loss for the organization given that he has struggled to translate that college success into professional production. While the added fifth-round pick in next year’s draft certainly has some measure of value for Ottawa, the cost clearly wasn’t considered to be prohibitive in the mind of Pierre Dorion.
Dorion's perspective is probably accurate in a vacuum, but it's once again important to caution against dealing picks for middling NHL roster players at this stage in the rebuild. The draft is like a lottery, and teams that have success are generally the ones that have the most picks. Senators fans should hope that this is the last deal of this nature that they see this season.
Everything considered, the impact of this deal for either side is likely to be minimal. This isn’t a trade that is going to move the needle in the National Hockey League standings. What it does do, though, is signal that the craziness of trade deadline season is right around the corner.
Enjoy the game tonight! As always, thanks for reading.