Acquiring Noah Dobson wasn't cheap, but Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes made the right move by pulling the trigger on the trade, even though
Now that we’ve passed the halfway point of the season and we have a reasonable sample to evaluate the trade the Montreal Canadiens made at the last draft, we can look back at Kent Hughes’ draft day blockbuster. On the first day of the NHL draft, the Habs’ GM sent Emil Heineman and his two first-round picks to the New York Islanders for right-shot defenseman Noah Dobson.
It wasn’t a cheap trade; the two first-round picks became forward Victor Eklund and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson, two promising prospects, and Emil Heineman has had a significant impact on his new team; he’s on their top line, but it was worth it.
Whichever way you look at it, the Canadiens had been after a right-shot defenseman for years, and with David Reinbacher not developing as quickly as they would have liked, thanks mainly to injuries, Dobson’s availability was just too good an opportunity to pass on.
It’s easy to forget that Dobson himself was a first-round pick for the Islanders and a successful one at that. Had he been willing to commit long-term to New York, the trade wouldn’t have happened. Forty-four games into the season, the 26-year-old blueliner has played a significant role in the team’s success.
Playing on the first pairing alongside Mike Matheson, he has skated in an average of 22 minutes and 48 seconds per game. He plays on the second power play unit and on the second penalty kill unit as well. He can do it all. On top of that, he already has 28 points, on pace for 52 points in an 82-game season, which would represent a significant increase for a player who only registered 39 points last year. Of course, that’s still some way away from his career-high of 70 points, but it’s his first year in Montreal, adapting to a new system, who knows what his ceiling could be?
Meanwhile, Emil Heineman has 20 points in 44 games, on pace for 37 points, which would be a significant increase from the 18 points he got in 62 games with the Habs last season (a 23 points pace on an 82-game season), but the truth of the matter is, the Canadiens have a lot of depth on the wings. Right now, Montreal has seven players with more points than Heineman, including three wingers.
You have to give something to get something, and sacrificing Heineman was the right move. He wouldn’t be on the first line if he played with the Canadiens, and Dobson brings more to the Habs than Heineman ever could have. Of course, it’s too early to know how the first two first-round picks will turn out, but that was a gamble worth making, he who dares wins, as they say.
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