Thursday, June 22, 2017

Vegas Deals Schlemko to Montreal


2017 Season 2017 July 1st Status
To Montreal Pos Age GP Goals/Wins Points Cap Years Cap
David Schlemko D 30 62 2 18 $2.1m 2 $2.1m
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To Vegas Pos Age GP G/W Points Cap Years Cap
2019 5th Round Draft Pick

The Golden Knights have turned around and made a couple of deals, acquiring futures for players and the second deal of the day saw one of their few pool worthy players depart for a mid-round draft pick in a couple years.  The Montreal Canadiens acquired defenseman David Schlemko for a 5th round pick in 2019, a seemingly cheap acquisition for a pool worthy defender.

Schlemko spent the 2017 season with the San Jose Sharks, where he finished 97th among all defensemen in scoring with his 18 points and it could have been a little bit better, if the season wasn't hampered by a few injuries throughout.

Montreal's blueline has already seen a little bit of a makeover and the addition of Schlemko is almost a necessary addition, as that gives them four defenders of at least some reasonable quality, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Jordie Benn being the other three.  The focus may be some more responsible play in front of their world class goalie, while still trying to drive the offense, to a point.  It is certainly more defense than offense in those four, not trying to take anything away from Weber's contributions.

Last season, Schlemko didn't feature in the hockey pool, but if he ends up being a top four defenseman in Montreal, as he certainly could, as of today, it is a certain possibility that we'll see him in the latter rounds of the draft.  Depending on what kind of ice-time he does earn for himself, there's some real potential for sleeper pick status, as he has shown flashes of offense in the past.

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