NASHVILLE - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Tuesday that the team has acquired the rights to forward Alex Newhook in exchange for Montreal's 31st (previously acquired from Florida) and 37th overall picks in 2023 and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother.
Newhook, 22, scored 14 goals and added 16 assists in 82 games with the Avalanche in 2022-23 before adding one assist in seven playoff games.
So far in his career, the St. John's, NL native has tallied 27 goals and 39 assists in 159 contests with the Avalanche, who selected him in the first round (16th overall) in 2019.
The 5-foot-10, 190 lb. centerman helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 2022 with four assists in 12 playoff games.
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That seems...generous of MTL.
Not really...it's essentially the Kirby Dach trade all over again. Remember Montreal is stacked with forward prospects:
2022 #1 LW Juraj Slafkovsky, #26 C Filip Mesar, #33 C Owen Beck, #75 RW Vinzenz Rohrer
2021# 63 Riley Kidney
2020# 47 LW Luke Tuch, #48 C Jan Mysak
plus Cole Caufield who at 22 yrs old is still considered prospect age. Now add in 23 yr old C Nick Suzuki and 22 yr old Kirby Dach. So they are already stacked where this draft is deep.
In addition, to forwards they have 2018 3rd #71 LHD Jordan Harris, 2020 1st LHD #16 Kaiden Guhle, and 2020 RHD #25 Justin Barron. Now add in prospects: 2021 1st #31 RHD Logan Mailloux, 2022 2nd #62 LHD Lane Hutson, and 2019 2nd #46 LHD Jayden Struble who just finished his NCAA career. So their defense isn't hurting for young talent either.
The Habs are losing Jonathan Drouin to UFA and replacing him with either Newhook or Dvorak. This essentially completes that 3rd line. It also gives them depth in case they move Monahan at the trade deadline--which may depend on if Newhook shows he can be a top 6 forward.
As far as Newhook:
He was a mid-1st round draft pick in '19 (now 22 yrs old with a Jan birth date) who has played in the NHL for 2 years now (plus the 6 game ELC slide and 8 playoff games in '00-'01). More of a play-maker than a scorer and is still prospect age. Yet, he's got 27 games of NHL playoffs experience. His qualifying offer is only 875k--which is good for a Montreal team that will be using LTIR (from Carey Price's contract) to get cap compliant--and he has no arbitration rights, yet. He's given 15 points and 20 assists from Colorado's 3th line (but bumped down to the 4th after the Avs got Lars Eller from the Caps at the deadline). He became expendable as the Avs got Ryan Johansen from the Preds.
I think you are overestimating the worth of 31st and 37th picks--particularly to a team with depth.
...and in doing this analysis, I think you can add the Habs as a team that Detroit will soon be competing against for a playoff spot.
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