The Montreal Canadiens have acquired defenceman David Schlemko from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2019.
The Golden Knights selected a surplus of rearguards in Wednesday’s expansion draft and have begun flipping them to teams looking to add depth to that position. (They dealt Trevor van Riemsdyk to Carolina earlier Thursday.)
Montreal has been left with a gap on the blue line after losing veteran defenceman Alexei Emelin to Vegas via expansion, trading defence prospect Mikhail Sergachev to Tampa Bay in exchange for forward Jonathan Drouin last week, and dealing Nathan Beaulieu to Buffalo on Saturday. Schlemko, 30, gives them an affordable option there with three years remaining on his current deal.
Schlemko is coming off a 62-game campaign with the San Jose Sharks in which he scored two goals and tallied 16 assists. He also had two goals and an assist in six playoff games this past spring.
The undrafted defenceman is no stranger to moving around the league, having dressed for five different teams throughout parts of nine career NHL seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes before skating with the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils and Sharks—all in the span of just three years.
The left-shot d-man has registered a total of 17 goals and 87 points in 360 career NHL games.
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