Original Six rivals complete draft day trade: Canadiens and Rangers shake things up
Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
The New York Rangers have traded forward Brett Berard to the Montreal Canadiens, Peter Baugh of The Athletic reported Friday.
Pierre LeBrun confirmed the return: defenceman William Trudeau.
On the surface, this reads as a routine offseason depth swap - clean, quiet, and easy to scroll past.
But when you look past the depth-swap framing, the details tell a more interesting story - one that favours Montreal considerably more than it does New York.
Berard had real upside the Rangers couldn't use
In 2024-25, Berard played 35 NHL games for New York and produced six goals, four assists, and 10 points.
Those numbers look modest, but his underlying production was not.
His 0.97 goals per 60 ranked fifth among all Rangers forwards, built almost entirely without power play time, while he played through a torn labrum.
He was generating real NHL-level offense with none of the structural advantages most middle-six forwards receive.
The Rangers still cut him from training camp in 2025-26. He made six recall trips between Hartford and New York without recording a single point.
The logjam was a product of roster construction and depth competition in New York, not a ceiling question for Berard himself.
What Montreal is betting on
The Canadiens surrendered William Trudeau - a 2021 fourth-round pick who played 198 professional games without a single NHL appearance.
His one-year contract had just expired, meaning Montreal essentially moved on from a depth defender heading back to Laval.
In return, they received a 23-year-old winger with verified NHL-level production on a cost-controlled RFA contract.
For a rebuilding organisation with cap flexibility and a development staff built to unlock exactly these situations, the math here works.
The Rangers cleared a logjam. The Canadiens quietly acquired one of the more interesting upside bets of the summer.
Also read on House Of Hockey :
Toronto Maple Leafs suddenly fire their coach just hours before the NHL draft
Toronto Maple Leafs suddenly fire their coach just hours before the NHL draft