Fantasy Impact: The Edmonton Oilers acquire David Desharnais from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Brandon Davidson.

The Oilers get: A 30-year-old playmaking centerman who had played his way out of the Canadiens’ lineup for good chunks of this season. Desharnais hasn’t been fantasy relevant for a couple of years now but does offer some potential to add some secondary scoring to a team desperate for it. These are the lines that Edmonton has been rolling out there of late:

In a perfect world, the Oilers would have found a good scoring winger to compliment McDavid, while moving Draisaitl to center his own line but this move could also work. Desharnais centering Drake Caggiula and Zack Kassian has some offensive potential.

Desharnais flourishes with stars around him. His best seasons came serving up softballs to Max Pacioretty. Perhaps Desharnais bumps Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the third line, so that Nuge can focus on his defensive responsibilities.

Desharnais is also competition for Mark Letestu who has shockingly emerged as a component of the Oilers’ top power play unit but his spot on that group is safe as the lone right-handed shot and because of his faceoff abilities. Desharnais instead fits onto the second unit where he is competition for Nugent-Hopkins but more likely Caggiula.

Colour me dubious of Desharnais’ ability to move the needle for Edmonton. His points/60 has been on a downward trajectory for four years running and he is absolutely allergic to shooting the puck.

Desharnais isn’t going to be skating with snipers on Pacioretty’s level. He may not be skating with snipers at all. He’s a centerman, a position of weakness for Edmonton but he may also be past his prime.

The Canadiens get: An intriguing young left-handed defenseman. Davidson has played well for Edmonton since returning from injury. He helped to hold down the fort while Darnell Nurse was out with an injury of his own. Nurse’s return made Davidson expendable. It was also likely that the Oilers would lose Davidson in the expansion draft this summer as their three protection slots on defense are likely going to Adam Larsson, Oscar Klefbom and Andrej Sekera.

It’s shocking to think but defense is actually a position of strength for Edmonton. They have no bonafide #1 but they have plenty of options who fit the 2-5 mould, Davidson included. Davidson now goes to Montreal, where he’ll battle for minutes on the left side with Alexei Emelin, Nathan Beaulieu and Andrei Markov.

He isn’t better than the latter two but he can push both for minutes because of Beaulieu’s youth and Markov’s aging legs. Davidson is likely to start in the press box but he’ll make the lineup to give the other guys breaks down the stretch. Montreal might even find he’s a much better option than Emelin.

Davidson isn’t particularly fantasy relevant but if he improves Montreal’s defense then he is helping Carey Price.

Players this helps, in order:

David Desharnais

Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse

Carey Price

Players this hurts, in order:

Brandon Davidson

Drake Caggiula

Mark Letestu

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Nathan Beaulieu

*

Thanks for reading. You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.