Major trade between the Montreal Canadiens and the Golden Knights five years ago: Nick Suzuki and Cody Glass were not targeted

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Elias Edmonson
October 22, 2023 (8:31 PM)

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At the beginning of September, we marked the fifth anniversary of the trade that brought Nick Suzuki to Montreal.

To refresh your memory, the Canadiens had sent their captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Tomas Tatar, a 2019 second-round pick, and the current team captain.

While this trade makes Marc Bergevin look like a genius today, it could have been a completely different story if the Golden Knights' GM at that time, George McPhee, had given in to the Canadiens' demands.

As reported by Marco Normandin from Habsolumentfan.com, many believed that the player Bergevin targeted was Cody Glass, the Knights' 2017 first-round pick, but in a recent article on The Athletic, journalist Arpon Basu revisited this trade and managed to gather new insights.

In discussions with people closely involved in the deal, the journalist learned that the player the Canadiens had their eyes on wasn't Cody Glass, but rather defenseman Erik Brannstrom.

Here are his explanations:

The Canadiens definitely wanted a top young prospect, but it wasn't necessarily Suzuki they were after. Instead, they were eyeing the young left-handed offensive defenseman Erik Brannstrom as they had a significant organizational need, especially since Victor Mete was playing alongside Shea Weber. They also took a shot at Cody Glass.

But, ultimately, the Canadiens agreed to accept any of the Golden Knights' three 2017 first-round picks and let the Knights choose between Glass (6th overall), Suzuki (13th overall), or Brannstrom (15th overall) to complete the trade, hoping it would be Brannstrom who was added. Vegas decided that Glass was untouchable and eventually traded Brannstrom to the Senators in the Mark Stone deal. The Knights had doubts about Suzuki's ability to produce at a high level, so they ended up letting him go.

It's quite incredible that the Canadiens ended up getting Suzuki, and without taking anything away from Brannstrom and Glass, who are not bad hockey players, they are nowhere near the production of number 14.

Just imagine if it had been Erik Brannstrom or Cody Glass who landed in Montreal... Let's just say Marc Bergevin got lucky in this story.

This is a fantastic #Habs read from ⁦@ArponBasu⁩

How the Canadiens took a bad situation and turned it into Nick Suzuki

via @TheAthletic https://t.co/KriG77fXBZ� Lori Bennett (@lori10habs) February 20, 2023