Trade Grade: Minnesota Wild Trade Andrew Hammond to the Montreal Canadians

One of my favorite part about sports involves transactions. You never know what is going to happen and who will get traded. Sometimes trades in sports are a blockbuster deal and some are not. This deal is not a blockbuster one but it is an intriguing deal involving goaltender Andrew Hammond between the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadians.

Minnesota Wild Acquires: F Brandon Baddock
Montreal Canadians Acquire: G Andrew Hammond

Minnesota Wild Side

Hammond was clearly not the future for the Wild and the Wild had a crowd of goalies on the minor league team. He was signed to a one year prove it deal in the offseason as well. So why not acquire a younger player that could be something in a change of scenery. Baddock is not a terrible player to have on your team. Well for the AHL as he has only played 1 professional NHL game in his entire career. But the Wild could use some depth at the winger position on their minor league team the Iowa Wild.

Montreal Canadians Side

Montreal is a team that is going nowhere this season and will miss the playoffs this season. Yes I know there not mathematically eliminated yet but come on they are not getting in. They are a team that is going to be in a rebuild soon looking at the future. However looking at the present the Canadians are in deep need of a goaltender. Samuel Montembeault is dealing with a wrist injury while he is playing and I won’t be shocked if he re-injures it again. Michael McNiven is injured with an undisclosed injury. Carey Price is still out due to his leave of absence in his treatment for substance of abuse (Take all the time you need Carey. I will be excited to see you on the ice again whenever you are ready). Jake Allen is out for a few weeks due to a lower body injury. On a side note I love the NHL but they really need to change the way that teams classify injuries. Injuries have heavily derailed this position for the Canadians. So the Canadians needed a short term option at goaltender until the core gets healthy and I feel Hammond can be that guy. Hammond being added to the team wont hurt salary wise as he is on a cheap two-way deal. While Hammond has not played a game in the NHL since his time with the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017-18 season keep in mind he is likely only a temporary option. Who knows in the time being he maybe going on a hot streak and increase his value in the upcoming trade deadline where they can ship him off for some future value whether in draft picks or in a prospect. Worse for Worse the Canadians did not sacrifice much in acquiring him so he could plug back into the AHL.

Grades for Andrew Hammond Trade
Minnesota Wild: B
Montreal Canadians: B+

I think this is a fair trade for both teams but I give leverage to Montreal due to how bad their goaltender situation has been. The Wild didn’t need Hammond as they have plenty of goaltenders in the minors so why not trade him for some winger depth in the minors.