The Montreal Canadiens made a nice trade on Thursday, adding some defensive depth by acquiring Nikita Nesterov from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Jonathan Racine and a sixth-round pick in 2017.
Nesterov’s enjoyed the best season of his young career, setting a personal best with 12 points despite playing in just 35 games with the Bolts. His possession stats are pretty nice, although it’s worth mentioning that he’s had a very sheltered role in Tampa Bay. (More than two-thirds of his shifts have begun in the offensive zone.)
You can quibble with Nesterov on a higher-level, but he’s a depth guy with some potential to maybe be even more than that to the Canadiens.
The Lightning get that sixth-rounder and Racine. The 23-year-old was the 87th pick of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers.
He seems like he can bring some grit to the table, considering his penalty minute numbers in the AHL, peaking with 149 in 70 games in 2014-15. Racine hasn’t really shown much offensive ability, however.
Montreal seems to get the better of this trade, even if you might equate this to a mere line-drive single in baseball.
It appears to be a straightforward trade with no salary retained:
no salary retained
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 27, 2017