A day after the Philadelphia Flyers acquired Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas Stars and Dominic Moore walked across the hallway leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning for the San Jose Sharks, another pending UFA who's been rumored for some time to be on the move finds himself in a deal.
The Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators agreed to swap defenseman Hal Gill and a conditional 2013 fifth-round pick for forwards and pending RFAs Blake Geoffrion and Robert Slaney and a 2012 second rounder.
Slaney has yet to play in the NHL since going undrafted, while Geoffrion has been playing with Nashville's AHL affiliate since the end of December.
So the great-grandson of Howie Morenz and grandson of "Boom Boom" Geoffrion possibly playing in Montreal? No pressure, kid.
Earlier today, Predators head coach told reporters what he was felt his team needed and everything he mentioned fit the mold of a Gill.
Via Y!'s Nick Cotsonika:
"Experience. Anybody who's got some size, who won the Cup. ... Penalty killing, especially on a defensive side."
Those sentiments were echoed by Predators GM David Poile via a team release:
"Hal Gill brings our team a number of elements — size, penalty-killing ability, depth on defense and playoff experience," Poile said. "He has won a Stanley Cup and played a combined 69 playoff games over the last four years, experience that significantly benefits our team."
So this will give Nashville some depth as they fight it out in the middle of the pack in the Western Conference and attempt to make a playoff run while the future of Ryan Suter remains shrouded in mystery.
Considering the amount of traveling he's done over the past month, how soon until Travis Moen and/or Andrei Kostitsyn are scratched off GM Pierre Gauthier's "to be traded" list?
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
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