Canadiens Unload DeSmith, Acquire Pearson and Pick

Montreal Canadiens traded goaltender Casey DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward Tanner Pearson and a third-round pick.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes committed to trading goaltender Casey DeSmith prior to the start of the 2023-24 regular season, and he followed through on that goal today. 

The Canadiens acquired forward Tanner Pearson and a third-round pick in 2025 from Vancouver Canucks in exchange for DeSmith.

Pearson was injured and limited to just 14 games last season. The 31-year-old notched one goal and four assists for five points in 2022-23. Vancouver activated Pearson off LTIR on Monday. He is expected to attend Montreal's training camp which starts tomorrow.

Pearson has one year remaining on his contract at $3.25 million and will become an unrestricted free agent next July.

Hughes has solved his goaltender issue with Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau remaining on NHL contracts. But Hughes has complicated his set of bottom six forwards by adding Pearson, and likely added an additional roadblock for his younger players.

Since joining with the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins to facilitate the Erik Karlsson trade, Hughes has dispatched Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick while adding a second, a third and a fourth pick in 2025. That's a solid addition of draft capital.

But in adding to his draft stash, Hughes has also taken on the problems of other teams namely Nathan Legare, Gustav Lindstrom and Tanner Pearson. Each player is likely to displace a Habs prospect whether in Montreal or Laval.

While Hughes stated that the trade of Hoffman was to make room for Habs prospects, the series of cascading transactions has left the opportunities no better than when he started.

In addition, the Canadiens have retained salary for Jeff Petry, resulting in a $2.34 million cap hit for the next two seasons. They will also lose a salary retention slot in each of those years.

The plan, with respect to the salary cap, is to place Carey Price's salary on in-season LTI. To be compliant by opening day, the Canadiens will send players to Laval.

There are still decisions to be made during training camp to ensure that Montreal continues to ensure that their young players have opportunities to develop to their potential.