HabsWorld.net --
The Habs continue to tinker with their depth forwards as on Thursday, the team acquired winger Adam Cracknell from the Rangers in exchange for Peter Holland.
This will be Cracknell’s third team already this season. He started off with Dallas on the heels of a career year that saw him collect ten goals and six assists in 69 games. However, he was claimed off waivers by the Rangers early in the season. He didn’t last long with them as just four games into his stint there, he was waived again and cleared. Overall, he is pointless in five NHL games this year while averaging 7:43 per night. With New York’s farm team, he has two goals and an assist in 15 games.
Holland signed with Montreal this summer with the expectation that he’d either contend for a fourth line spot or play a top role in Laval. It was the latter and he got off to a strong start this season with 18 points in 20 games.
Curiously, the trade weakens Montreal’s centre depth which is rather weak as it is, particularly after trading Torrey Mitchell last week. On the surface, it would appear that GM Marc Bergevin thinks that Cracknell would be a better fit on Montreal’s fourth line, a unit that is certainly underwhelming at the moment.
From a contractual standpoint, Cracknell is a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of $675,000. Holland makes the same amount this year at the NHL level but is on a two-way deal (worth $300,000) while making $675,000 on a one-way contract for 2018-19.