There was talk going into this week that the Montreal Canadiens were looking to add a depth defenceman, and now they've found one in the shape of Davis Drewiske, late of the L.A. Kings.
Drewiske, a 28-year-old who played college hockey at Wisconsin and has played parts of five seasons in Los Angeles, came at the comparatively low cost of a fifth-round draft choice.
Known primarily as a defensive defenceman, Drewiske has played 20 games this season (one goal, three assists, plus-3) and became expendable with the emergence of young blueliners like Jake Muzzin and the acquisition on Monday of Buffalo Sabres rear-guard Robyn Regehr. He was a healthy scratch in Los Angeles in 15 of the last 16 games.
Drewiske isn't overly imposing at 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, but he does have 126 NHL games under his belt and should see time on the third pairing with Francis Bouillon.
He's also in the last year of a contract that pays him a relatively paltry $650,000