Montreal Canadiens Acquire Alex Newhook from Colorado Avalanche

The Montreal Canadiens have acquired the rights to winger Alex Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for picks number #31 and #37 in this year’s draft, along with defenceman Gianni Fairbrother. This a surprising move coming out of Montreal as we expected them to make a deal, but this isn’t what we had in mind. For the Canadiens, who are currently in a rebuilding stage, they receive a 22-year-old who can play either up the middle or down the wing, and Montreal has always had issues trying to find centers. Newhook was originally selected 16th overall by the Avalanche in the 2019 Draft. He’s played in 159 games with Colorado over the past three seasons, putting up 27 goals and 39 assists for 66 points, he’s added a goal and six assists in 27 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

For Colorado, prior to the trade, they had only two picks in the first four rounds, with both of those picks coming in the opening round. Colorado also gets Gianni Fairbrother, who hasn’t gotten a chance to prove himself after he missed all of last season with a knee injury. Montreal has always had a backlog of defensive prospects over the season, and Fairbrother doesn’t fit into their future plans, so they decided to ship him off. The 22-year-old defenceman has played in 28 games with the Laval Rocket, putting up a goal and seven assists.