The 25-year-old was placed on waivers Friday for the purposes of a buyout, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
Depres has four years remaining on his contract, carrying a $3.7-million annual cap hit. Should he clear waivers, Anaheim would proceed with a buyout.
Despres appeared in just one game in 2016-17, missing the remainder of the season with a concussion.
Per CapFriendly, the buyout would count against the salary cap for the next eight seasons, with next year's cap hit coming at the highest charge (about $1.26 million).
The electrifying winger was acquired by the Habs - the team Drouin grew up adoring - in a blockbuster deal Thursday afternoon, and based on his skill level, it shouldn't take long for the 22-year-old to become a fan favorite.
Drouin has certainly endured his fair share of criticism through his young career, but there's no denying the kid can flat-out dazzle, and below are five plays from his tenure in Tampa that should have Bleu, Blanc et Rouge supporters salivating.
Give Drouin an inch, and he'll take a mile, as evidenced by this ridiculous cross-seam pass to set up a Lightning goal.
Hard work pays off
It's tough to picture a more impressive shift at the NHL level. Drouin, when motivated, can do it all.
Pin-point precision
Jonathan Drouin is a magician. Love how he realizes that's a forward trying to defend him, then just goes and attacks him with the puck. pic.twitter.com/lndn2eP3zN
Again, he doesn't need a lot of room to make things happen. Drouin's shot might not be the hardest, but he can place it anywhere he chooses, which has proven to be a deadly asset - just ask Peter Budaj.
Just get him the puck
There he goes again, dominating everybody on the ice.
Speed kills
As San Jose learned the hard way last season, trying to contain Drouin with a full head of steam can be a nightmare.
Those following theScore's free-agent rankings should be well aware the summer's most abundant resource is backup goaltending.
Whether it's those looking to move into a starting job for the first time in their career, or others being relegated to backup duty following a failed stint as a workhorse starter, the open market is flush with goalies capable of starting 10-40 games per season.
Teams looking to land a viable starter they can plug in for 60-65 starts per season without having to worry about inconsistencies don't have many proven options to choose from. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury will be available via trade, but his $5.75-million cap hit will be tough to swallow for any Cup hopeful looking to add the 32-year-old for the next two seasons.
Here's a look at goalies available either as free agents, expansion candidates for the Vegas Golden Knights, or potential trade targets:
Looking for a shot
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Anders Nilsson, Sabres: Nilsson spent just one season with Buffalo, his fourth team during his five-year career. His .934 save percentage at even strength was his best ever in just his third year starting at least 23 games. He's likely not in the starting conversation, but he should have an opportunity to receive a larger portion of a timeshare.
Darcy Kuemper, Wild: Kuemper and starter Devan Dubnyk were each propped up by the Wild's strong defensive system, though Kuemper struggled to a .902 save percentage in all situations through 18 appearances. He has spent the first five years of his career with the Wild, but with Alex Stalock under contract for two more years as Dubnyk's backup, he's likely headed for a backup role in a new city.
Antti Raanta, Rangers: The wise move may be for the Rangers to retain the 27-year-old Raanta over Henrik Lundqvist, who is eight years his senior. Raanta, who has one year left on his contract, will be a top target of the Golden Knights, but coming off a season with a .922 save percentage through 30 appearances, the Rangers could find something of value instead of shipping him to a team in need of a young starter.
Aaron Dell, Sharks: Dell vastly outplayed his $625,000 salary in his first year in the NHL, posting a .931 save percentage in 20 games. Martin Jones is locked in as the Sharks' goalie of the present and future, but Dell finds himself in a similar situation Jones had with the Los Angeles Kings. One more season like Dell just had, and he could land a big-money deal elsewhere. The Sharks would be wise to capitalize on his breakout season.
Philipp Grubauer, Capitals: Grubauer is widely believed to be the best backup goaltender in the league. He's a free agent, and is the most likely to be promoted to a starting role within another organisation. He made a career-high 19 starts last season, but at just 25 years old, he could be ready to follow in the steps of Jones and Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot.
Looking for another shot
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Jonathan Bernier, Ducks: Bernier played the final season of a two-year, $8.3-million deal with the Ducks last season as backup to the cheaper John Gibson. He unsurprisingly rebounded with less work on a superior team to the Maple Leafs, for whom he started for three seasons. He's again a strong option for a potential tandem.
Brian Elliott, Flames: A warning sign for any team looking to hand a starting job to any of those mentioned above, Elliott posted a .910 save percentage over 49 games while playing out the final season of a three-year deal originally signed with the St. Louis Blues.
Antti Niemi, Stars: With Ben Bishop signed, the Stars need to move one or both of Niemi and Kari Lehtonen. Niemi's slightly more attractive, with just one year remaining on his contract at a lower cap hit. His save percentage dipped below .900 for the first time in his career, but he could have something to offer as a backup to an inexperienced goalie.
Steve Mason, Flyers: Mason remains without a contract as the Flyers opt to roll with the tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Anthony Stolarz for at least one season. A change of scenery worked the last time, when he moved from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Flyers, and he's still on the young side of 30.
Ondrej Pavelec, Jets: The Jets are finally free of the five-year, $19.5-million contract they handed Pavelec ahead of the 2012-13 season. His number of starts has declined each of the past three seasons, and he spent most of the 2016-17 season in the AHL. He'll likely be offered more playing time in Europe than he would in North America.
Worth a shot
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Pekka Rinne, Predators: Rinne has a modified no-trade clause he'd need to waive in order for the Predators to expose him to the expansion draft. While they're unlikely to ask him to do so, there are obvious benefits to getting rid of the 34-year-old's $7-million cap hit. Juuse Saros is just 22, and posted a .923 save percentage in 21 games last season. A contender could offer the Predators some cap relief and Rinne another shot at the Stanley Cup.
Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins: The most likely "first goaltender in Vegas Golden Knights history," Fleury has made himself available to all 30 non-Stanley Cup champions. His inconsistencies are well known, but he's just 32 years old and can handle a full workload for at least the next two seasons.
Joonas Korpisalo, Blue Jackets: At just 23 years of age, Korpisalo is the youngest goalie capable of stepping into a larger role if he gets out of the shadow of Sergei Bobrovsky in Columbus. He has a .915 save percentage through 43 NHL starts and 45 games. The Blue Jackets could sell him in order to avoid losing him for nothing, and he could serve under an older starter with the expectation of taking over in a year or two.
Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman was dealt an incredibly tough hand when Jonathan Drouin, the club's third overall pick from 2013, demanded a trade.
Yzerman handled it as best as he could, and, in the end, it paid huge dividends for the Lightning. To refresh, here's a brief timeline of the events leading up to Thursday's blockbuster trade:
2013-14 season: Drouin plays one more season of junior after being drafted.
2014-15 season: Drouin plays 70 games with the Lightning, recording four goals and 32 points.
January 2, 2016: Drouin is sent down to the AHL after playing 19 games with the Lightning.
January 3, 2016: Allan Walsh, Drouin's agent, reveals his client made a trade request back in November.
January 20, 2016: Lightning suspend Drouin for failing to report to AHL game.
March 8, 2016: Drouin reports to the AHL's Syracuse Crunch for the first time since being suspended.
April 4, 2016: Drouin is called back up to the big club, and promptly scores two goals in the season's final two games.
2016 playoffs: Drouin plays the best hockey of his NHL career, notching 14 points in 17 games.
2016-17 season: Drouin has a drama-free breakout year, tallying 21 goals and 53 points in 73 games.
Had Yzerman traded Drouin upon his initial request, it would have resulted in two things:
1) He would have been labeled a weak GM who can be pushed around by players. 2) He would have received diddly squat in return.
Trading Drouin, a proven top-six forward, in exchange for Mikhail Sergachev, an 18-year-old with just four NHL games under his belt, is certainly a risky move. However, Sergachev was a top-10 pick, has great size, strong skating ability, offensive upside, and the potential to be a legitimate No. 1 NHL defenseman.
You can bet Yzerman and his scouts have done their due diligence. Given the Lightning's history of player evaluation and development since he became GM, there's a good chance Sergachev is the real deal.
Drouin, on the other hand, has proven to be a drama queen and a headcase during his brief NHL career. He still has some growing up to do. Even though it seemed like he and the organization had moved past the whole trade request incident on the outside, internally, they clearly hadn't. He didn't want to be a member of the Lightning.
We won't know who wins this trade until 5-10 years from now, but by holding his ground and waiting for Drouin's trade stock to climb back up, Yzerman was able to flip him for a valuable asset. It's a template GMs in any sport can learn from when dealt a difficult hand.
Fletcher and the Wild face quite a roster conundrum with the arrival of the Golden Knights, as there aren't enough spots to go around to ensure protection for all their quality players.
Defenseman Ryan Suter owns a no-movement clause, meaning Minnesota has two spots to fill between Brodin, Dumba, Jared Spurgeon, and Marco Scandella should it choose the seven-three-one protection format.
Brodin, 23, is under contract for four more seasons at a $4.16-million cap hit. Last season, he averaged 19:34 of ice time across 68 contests, and set a career high in points with 25.
The 22-year-old Dumba, meanwhile, was selected seventh overall by the Wild in 2012, and recorded a career-high 34 points in 2016-17. He's slated to earn $2.55 million next season before hitting restricted free agency.
As several NHL teams look to add quality defensemen, Fletcher's phone is sure to light up over the next few days, as the league-wide trade freeze kicks in June 17 at 3 p.m. ET.
After a medical scare in April, Buffalo Sabres winger Kyle Okposo is expected to be ready for training camp.
Okposo was hospitalized and kept in the Neuro Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Buffalo General Medical Center for under a week after reportedly enduring a harmful reaction to medication for a concussion.
"From our standpoint, everything will be ready for him at the start of training camp," Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said, according to Matt Schneidman of The Buffalo News. "Just like all our other players."
"We've had conversation with him. Everything's looking great from Kyle," Botterill said. "He physically looks great and mentally looks great."
Okposo signed a seven-year, $42-million contract with Buffalo last offseason, and suited up in 65 contests in 2016-17, missing time with a rib injury as well as an illness toward the end of the season.
The 29-year-old recorded 45 points last season and represented the Sabres at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
The trade appears to be driven by the fear of losing a strong roster player to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, which the Lightning had with Drouin and their abundance of riches at forward.
With the deal finalized, both teams will have to tweak their strategies as they head into next week's draft. Here are some adjustments likely to be made, and the implications of the deal, for each team:
Lightning
Off the hop, it appears likely it was the Lightning driving the bus in this deal.
Heading into the expansion draft, Tampa was faced with a bit of a conundrum up front: they had more than seven forwards they wanted to protect.
With Drouin in the mix, the club would likely elect to hang on to him, meaning one of the seven above would have to be exposed, lest a side deal was made with the Golden Knights. So the trade means Vegas will walk away with a significantly less skilled player than they would have pre-trade.
Every team I've talked to the last few weeks is working on some variation of: "How do we give Vegas almost nothing?" Tampa pulls that off.
The deal allows the Lightning to safely protect their core forwards, while Sergachev will remain ineligible for the draft given he's still a rookie, so the team won't have to protect an extra defenseman.
Canadiens
For the Canadiens, the Drouin deal won't shatter any expansion draft plans, but certainly adds a wrinkle.
With Drouin in the mix, Montreal has another forward that will need protecting, meaning someone who might have thought they'd be protected going into the draft no longer will be.
This is the type of deal we all expected would come when the expansion draft parameters were laid out. Teams will try to find a way to make sure they won't lose one of their more valuable players for nothing.
Steve Yzerman and Co. were quick to notice that, and chances are they aren't the only team in that boat.
The contract caps off a wild couple hours for both parties after Drouin was acquired by the Canadiens in a trade for prospect Mikhail Sergachev and a swap of conditional draft picks.
The deal locks up Drouin for the foreseeable future at an average cap hit of $5.5 million per season. The 22-year-old was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1.
The contract also makes Drouin the second-highest-paid forward on the Canadiens' roster behind only Tomas Plekanec who is on the books for one more season at $6 million.
