By Thomas Williams -
The NHL trade deadline is closing in, just over five weeks away — okay, so not that close — but the Minnesota Wild have kept the transaction mill running, making a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday morning.
Minnesota has sent depth goaltender Andrew Hammond to Montreal in exchange for AHL forward Brandon Baddock. Don’t get too excited.
This was surely more out of necessity for the Canadiens as they are having a minor goaltending crisis, currently having 22-year-old Cayden Primeau and 25-year-old Samuel Monembeault as their tandem. New Montreal GM Kent Hughes no doubt wanted some veteran security, and Hammond was apparently available.
Baddock, 26, is certainly included just to make the contracts work. He is a pending unrestricted free agent, so there is no real commitment beyond this year for him. AHL Iowa gets a little bit of grit with not a whole lot else — Baddock has a total of 12 points and 144 penalty minutes in his last 58 AHL games for Laval. Cool?
Welcome to Iowa!
Hammond signed his second consecutive one-year deal with the Wild this summer, supplying the team with some stability in between the pipes as a third-string netminder. But now since the signing of Zane McIntyre, they have enough older depth goaltenders to supplement the young duo of Hunter Jones and Derick Baribeau for the minors. In 11 AHL appearances this season, he has earned a .908 save percentage.
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