Fantasy Impact: Montreal shipped out the underachieving Mike Cammalleri (along with KHL goaltender Kari Ramo and a 5^th round pick) to Calgary in exchange for winger Rene Bourque, prospect Patrick Holland, and a 2^nd round pick.

The Canadiens get: A solid two-way forward who should be counted on for 25+ goals each season. Bourque skates well and he has a nose for the net. Like Cammalleri, his effort level has been up and down a bit this season. Holland is a prospect with limited upside. He could make the NHL as a depth scorer or as a checker.

The Flames get: Calgary is reuniting the band (again). Cammalleri will improve the team a lot right now, but is Calgary in a position to be adding salary? Cammalleri makes $6 million per seeason, about $3 million more than Bourque. He has had previous success in Calgary, and it will be interesting to see how he does on his second tour.

I don't see a huge difference between Bourque and Cammalleri right now. But if Calgary is receiving the 39-goal Cammalleri from 2008-09, this trade could be a big win for them. They are essentially taking a $3 million gamble that Cammalleri can rekindle his scoring touch of a few seasons ago.

Fantasy Players Impacted:

This move is probably good for both players. A new environment, new responsibilities, and new expectations. Bourque is a solid second line winger and should slot in nicely alongside Plekanec or Gomez (depending on how Montreal's lines shape up). When he is on his game, he is skating hard, shooting the puck a lot, and going to the net with regularity. When he isn't, he is a perimeter player who doesn't accomplish a whole lot.

Cammalleri is a shooter and would excel with a playmaker on his line (although he can move the puck as well).

A potential line could see Cammalleri skating on the left side with Backlund and Iginla. Jokinen probably wouldn't fit there as he is a shoot-first player. Only one puck to go around. Or Calgary could keep the red hot Glencross-Jokinen-Iginla line together, and put Cammalleri with Backlund and a winger like Stempniak. Some options exist.

Kent Wilson offers a good breakdown of the trade here.

"Ridding the Flames of Bourque is also a boon both on and off the ice. Bourque arrived in town as a third-line, PK player who couldn’t score much but could be counted on to take relatively difficult assignments and survive. And despite being one of the Flames strongest overall forwards for the period of about two seasons, he eventually devolved into a third-line, PP player who can score but couldn’t be trusted against any quality competition whatsoever.

Make no mistake, Bourque was a liability and his contract was an albatross as a result. His goal and point totals have been decent since he stepped into the elevator shaft, but he has put up some of the worst possession and scoring chance ratios on the team. Whatever points he was accruing, he was costing the team in spades otherwise. In addition, his unfortunate penchant for taking way more penalties than he draws never went away. This year, for instance, only Corey Sarich has a worse penalty differential than Rene on the Flames.

Cammalleri isn’t a possession king himself, but he’s faced some of the toughest ice for the Canadiens this year and isn’t completely under water. He’s better at moving the puck north, better at distributing and draws way more minors than he takes. He’s also marginally younger than Bourque and his contract terminates two years earlier. The Flames got the better player in the deal."

Fantasy players this helps, in order:

1. Cammalleri

2. Bourque

3. Backlund

4. Iginla

5. Mark Giordano

6. Max Pacioretty

Fantasy players this hurts, in order:

1. Tomas Plekanec