Why Staal when you can Zacha?

[Moshpit]

Sens and Habs are going in different directions. The Habs are a lottery team and the Sens sit around the top of the league and are looking to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Today, a deal was completed- which will help both teams journeys.

Eric Staal and Alexei Yemelin (no relation to Alexei Emelin) are on their way to Ottawa, while Pavel Zacha is on a plane to Long Island to suit up with the Ice Dogs. The Habs also acquire 2017 1st and two 2nds.

Moshpit had talks with three teams regarding Staal but was happy to pull the trigger with Hanni- who was pleasant to deal with.

Hopefully it works out for both teams.

[Knut]

Interesting deal. Hope it works out of Ottawa. that is a lot to pay up. Staal should get a decent rerate though.

[Hanni]

The Sens find themselves in a bit of a surprising situation at 3rd in the east and within reach of 2nd, I would not have expected that at the start of the season.

Zacha is tough to give up as he was the one top level prospect we had in the system but stuck in the tire fire of Jersey in the NHL who knows how long or where his development will go.

Staal is slightly older of a player than I was originally looking for but at 31 still has lots of good years left and will help our top end and help the depth of the forwards immediately. Emelin will slot in on the top pairing and again helps improve depth on the blueline.

I was a bit reluctant to think about giving up picks earlier this season thinking we would be more rebuilding but given our position and the seeming lack of depth in the 2017 draft made that decision easier.

Thanks to Mosh for the easy deal which came together pretty quickly.

[JonDuke]

Ottawa does a great job bolstering their team for the last half of the season. Impressive, and a very smart move seeing as how tight the east has been thus far.
Habs get an incredible return. I like Zacha a lot. The 1st and 2 x 2nds on top of him for 2 aging vets is great for Montreal.