The Montreal Canadiens have had a busy off-season, and it is understandable when noting that they took a major step in the right direction this past campaign. Due to this, they brought in multiple new players this summer. However, there is no question that the Canadiens' top addition of the summer was defenseman Noah Dobson.
The Canadiens acquired Dobson from the New York Islanders in exchange for forward Emil Heineman, the 16th overall pick of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft (Victor Eklund), and the 17th overall pick of the NHL Entry Draft (Kashawn Aitcheson). The Canadiens then signed Dobson to an eight-year, $76 million contract after the move, so he will be sticking around in Montreal for a long time.
Now, the Canadiens have received some major praise for pulling off this blockbuster move.
In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Adam Gretz ranked the Canadiens' trade for Dobson as the best move of the entire NHL off-season.
When noting that Dobson is a legitimate star when playing at his best, it is easy to understand why Gretz ranked it as the top move of this off-season. This is especially so when noting that the Canadiens were able to quickly lock up Dobson long-term after it, and that the Canadiens' right side needed a boost.
Dobson appeared in 71 games this past season with the Islanders, where he posted 10 goals and 39 points. This was after he had a monster 2023-24 campaign, scoring 10 goals and setting career highs with 60 assists and 70 points in 79 games. With numbers like these, there is no question that he has the potential to provide serious offense from the point, and it will be huge for the Habs if he does just that from here.
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