Rumblings had been there for days (weeks?) that Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Drouin would be traded to Montreal, with the likely return including Alex Galchenyuk. Those wouldn’t be the only pieces of the deal, but they would be the focal points.

Thursday afternoon, Drouin was indeed traded to the Habs, only it wasn’t for Galchenyuk, it was for first-round defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. There is a conditional sixth-round pick going to the Canadiens along with Drouin, as well as a second-round pick going to Tampa Bay in return.

It didn’t take long for Montreal to sign him, either:

Jonathan Drouin contract: 6 years / 33M$ (5.5M$) @CanadiensMTL #tvasports

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 15, 2017

This trade accomplishes two things for the Lightning: it opens another spot to protect a player in the upcoming expansion draft, and it moves a restricted free agent who is likely to command a reasonable price tag. The Lightning still have to sign Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat, so a lot of their cap space was going to disappear. Aside from what trading Drouin gives them, this obviously provides the team with a player in Sergachev who looks to be a future top-pair guy. Click here to read up on Sergachev.

Fantasy Impact

Drouin

For Montreal, this gives them an added scoring threat, and a significant one at that. Not only can he drive the play, but he’s a great distributor of the puck.

Regardless of happens with Galchenyuk – though this trade likely signifies his days are done in Montreal – Drouin is assured a top-six role with this team. Assuming Alex Radulov returns to the fold, it gives the team a great top-four winger set, along with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher.

Where Drouin should be able to help the most is on the power play. Nearly half his points last year (26 of 53) came with the man advantage. The Habs, on the other hand, finished dead last in the league in shots generated per minute at five-on-four, and mid-pack in goals per minute. Drouin has the skills and the vision to find anyone on the ice at a given moment, something that will come in handy with Shea Weber bombing from the point, and Pacioretty as a trigger man.

I do have my doubts, however, that Drouin reaches his full fantasy potential in a Montreal uniform. With the lack of a true top centre, the wingers will be playing in pairs, and carrying a third member of their line. Pacioretty leads the team’s forwards in points over the last two years with 131, but no one else on the team cracked 100. Perhaps things are different under Claude Julien, but this just isn’t been a team conducive to monster fantasy seasons (at least among their skaters) and asking one player to change that is asking a lot.

Nevertheless, Drouin will get a consistent top-six role with top power-play minutes, which means 60 points is well within reach for 2017-18.

Sergachev

Even if he cracks the roster to start the season, it’ll be hard for Sergachev to have immediate fantasy impacts. Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman are still the horses on the blue line, both at five-on-five and on the power play.

Should the team re-sign Nikita Kucherov in a couple years’ time, however, this is undoubtedly a better situation for the prospect than in Montreal. Tampa Bay could have all of Stamkos, Johnson, Palat, Kucherov, and Hedman still under contract once Stralman’s runs out in 2019. That is a great core for Sergachev to play around, it’ll just take some time for him to reach his own potential. Again, I encourage readers to click through that report on Sergachev up top.