Canadiens acquire Alexandre Carrier

The Canadiens and Predators have swapped blueliners before Thursday’s freezeout. Montreal has acquired Alexander Carrier from Nashville in exchange for defenseman Justin Barron. Both teams have announced the deal.

Carrier is in his seventh NHL season, all of which came with Nashville after they drafted him in the fourth round back in 2015. He’s gone from a depth defenseman to someone counted on inside their top four.

However, the 28-year-old has been unable to duplicate his performance in 2021-22, earning a spot on the All-Rookie Team. That year, Carrier had 30 points and 124 blocks in 77 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night of ice time. He scored just 29 points the following two seasons and has seven in 28 outings this season while averaging just over 20 minutes per game. match. Carrier is currently dealing with an upper-body injury but is believed to be ready to return to the lineup, TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link).

Carrier had a chance to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this past summer, but instead chose to remain in Nashville, inking a three-year, $11.25MM deal that runs through the 2026-27 campaign. With David Savard as a pending unrestricted free agent and a speculative trade candidate as a result, it stands to reason that Carrier will eventually take his role as the veteran option on the right side of Montreal’s back end, ensuring they will have an experienced player on it side beyond this season.

As for Barron, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Colorado back in 2020, going 25th. It’s the second time in his career that he’s been on the move after being the centerpiece of the package acquired by the Canadiens in exchange for winger. Artturi Lehkonen back at the 2022 trade deadline.

At the time, Montreal hoped he would become a key cog in their back end for years to come. But while Barron has shown flashes of being a capable NHL player, he has struggled with consistency. Last season, despite a stint with AHL Laval, he collected seven goals and six assists in 48 games while averaging 18:38 per game. match, and it looked like he had turned a corner in his development. That earned him a two-year, $2.3 million bridge deal last summer.

Unfortunately for Barron and the Canadiens, that hasn’t been the case this season. He has been a frequent healthy scratch over the first two-plus months of the year, getting into just 17 of 31 games. In those outings, he has been limited to just one goal (without registering any assists), while his playing time has dropped to just 14:43 per game. match.

This move gives Nashville a younger player to try to turn into a full-time piece while saving the team $2.6 million on the salary cap. Barron will also still have two years of team control when his deal expires, while Carrier will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract expires. With the Preds struggling much more than many expected this season, it will be interesting to see if GM Barry Trotz has any plans to quickly utilize those cap savings as the roster freeze approaches or if he will wait until the new year trying to add another piece to their list.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.