Marc Bergevin said that the Habs would be very cash-strapped at the deadline, but as Bergevin has shown before, he's not always truthful with his proclamations in the media. Montreal traded for Eric Staal late Friday afternoon, sending a third- and fifth-round pick in this year's draft to the Sabres in exchange. The Sabres retained over $1.6M in the deal to make the money work.

What does it mean for the Habs?

Well, for me this says there's an issue with at least one of their centres. As it is, Jesperi Kotkaniemi is on the COVID list and Nick Suzuki has just nine points in his last 20 games. Staal will be UFA after this season so it's just a rental, but with all the additions the Habs made in the offseason, it's obvious they're pushing for sustained playoff success this year. At the least, he'll step into a top-9 role for now and with the way the Habs kind of roll their lines, he could end up with top-6 minutes on any given night.

Staal hasn't had a good year on the surface, but according to Evolving Hockey, he has helped the Sabres drive good chances:

On top of that, his shot rates are very much in line with what he did last season. With him driving some offence and still shooting at least at a respectable rate, there is some juice left in the tank here. The 10 points aren't great, obviously, but the Sabres have just been an absolute garbage can this year. This is a completely different environment.

Remember that the Canadian provinces agreed to shorten the 14-day quarantine to a 7-day quarantine, meaning it'll be a week before Staal is in the lineup. With no changes to the schedule for now, that means two games against Ottawa before getting in next weekend.

I think Staal can be a useful fantasy asset. If he steps into Kotkaniemi's role, he won't be playing 15-16 minutes a night with secondary PP minutes. He will get 16-17 a night with split PP minutes and, hopefully, better line mates than in Buffalo. He won't repeat what he did a few years ago with that 42-goal season, but I think he can pro-rate what he did last year, which would work out to 20-25 goals and 30-35 assists in an 82-game season. If Staal plays 23 games, that works out to roughly six goals and nine assists the rest of the way. He has a chance to be a nice addition in deeper leagues.

As for Buffalo, I suppose this means a whole lot of minutes for Dylan Cozens and Curtis Lazar. But with that said, Taylor Hall is likely on his way out the door soon and once he’s gone, there really isn’t a lot to work with in Buffalo.