The Arizona Coyotes announced another offseason trade on Saturday.
Arizona will be sending center Christian Dvorak to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft selection and a 2024 second-round pick.
“I felt Christian had a lot of value not only for our club but also on the open market because centers this year seem to be hard to find,” Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong said in a press conference on Saturday.
“So we tried to maximize that and we had to look at obviously improving our team down the road and this move did that.”
Dvorak was drafted in the second round at No. 58 overall by the Coyotes in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
In 302 career games in Arizona, the center scored 67 goals and notched 79 assists for a total of 146 points to go along with 70 penalty minutes.
Dvorak adds to the slew of Coyotes departures this offseason that includes the likes of D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, RW Conor Garland, C Derek Stepan, and Gs Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill.
As a result of the summer acquisitions, the additional draft capital will give Arizona a total of three first and five second-round choices in the 2022 NHL Draft.
“When I first got here, the previous regime had kind of depleted our assets (in addition) to some of the fines the NHL had levied on us,” Armstrong said. “So I was trying to find ways within the NHL to create draft picks.
“We were able to do that this summer. We were able to find some ways to create some picks and gather some picks and strengthen us as an organization. This just really solidifies that and now gives us three first-rounders and five second (rounders) in one of the strongest drafts in the last 10 years.”