HabsWorld.net -- 

On Thursday, the Habs completed their first trade of the season, trading
d-man Ryan O’Byrne to Colorado in exchange for 2010 3rd round pick Michael
Bournival.  O’Byrne played the first 3 games of the season with the Habs
but quickly fell out of favour with coach Jacques Martin, losing his spot as the
7th defenceman to Alexandre Picard. 

Bournival, meanwhile, was selected 71st overall by the Avalanche in the 2010
entry draft.  The 6’0, 187 lb centre currently plays for the Shawinigan
Cataractes of the QMJHL (where he’s team captain) and has scored 10 goals and 14 assists in 17 games – all
those stats lead that team.  League wide, he is currently 20th in scoring. 
Bournival also played both games in the 2010 Subway Super Series, picking up a
goal.  (Louis Leblanc and Phillipe Lefebvre each played one game of the
pair.)

Bournival was ranked 56th in The Hockey News’ draft rankings for the 2010 draft,
while Central Scouting had him ranked the 75th best North American skater. 
The International Scouting Service (ISS) had him as a mid-2nd round pick, by
ranking him 45th overall.

O’Byrne has been sitting as a healthy scratch with the Habs for the
past 12 games.  The former 3rd rounder is joining a Colorado team that is
decimated with injuries on the blueline.  The Avs are currently without
Kyle Quincey, Ryan Wilson, Adam Foote, and Kyle Cumiskey on the blueline and used a quartet
of rookies on the backend last game. 

On the cap, O’Byrne has $764,471.33 remaining on his salary, which means this
amount comes off the Habs’ cap.  This brings the team’s projected cap space
to $1,137,623.17 and cushioned cap space to $1,562,623.17 (yes, we value every
penny here at HabsWorld).  Our
capsheet
has been updated to reflect the trade.