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Bonjour, au revoir: Habs trade Briere to Avs for Parenteau

DanielBriere

Montreal and Colorado have flipped veteran French-Canadian forwards, with Daniel Briere going to the Avs in exchange for P.A. Parenteau.

The trade, first reported by TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, comes after a year in which Parenteau saw his name linked to a number of rumors. The former Islanders winger, who turned 31 in March, still managed to put up decent numbers despite the whispers and a serious knee injury -- 14 goals and 33 points in 55 games, one year after he put up 43 points in 48 games during the lockout-shortened ’13 campaign.

Briere, 36, just wrapped the first of a two-year, $8 million deal that carries a $4M annual cap hit. His inaugural campaign in Montreal was a disappointment -- he sat as a healthy scratch on occasion and finished the year with just 13 goals and 25 points in 69 games, averaging less than 13 minutes a night.

On the surface, the move would appear to be a win for Montreal as they get a forward that’s younger and more productive, though Parenteau has an additional year on his contract compared to Briere. Still, Parenteau can fill the top-six void left by Thomas Vanek and might be charged with a return to Quebec -- he was born in Hull and played his junior hockey for QMJHL Chicoutimi.

As for the particulars... Briere had signed with the Habs after getting bought out by Philadelphia last summer and had a no-trade/no-movement clause with Montreal, meaning he needed to sign off on this deal.

Per TSN, the Habs are also getting a fifth-round pick in 2015 as part of the trade.

It’ll be interesting to see what the next 24-48 hours hold for Montreal. The club has reportedly been shopping Josh Gorges’ services and needs to reach a new deal with defenseman P.K. Subban, so we could have plenty more news to report in short order.

Update: Briere’s statement on the deal, per TVA...

Brière: “I loved my experience in Mtl but this will be a great opp. to play on a team w/ great young players going in the right riection”.

— Louis Jean (@LouisJean_TVA) June 30, 2014

Update 2: If it wasn’t obvious enough by that statement, TSN confirms Briere won’t be bought out by the Avalanche and is set to be in the Colorado lineup this fall.